Twilight Mobius: A prequel to Sonic Underground
by Orumon
Summary: The planet Mobius has been consumed by war ever since the fall of the echidna race. The sudden arrival of aliens, known as humans, changed that. Their offer of immortality lead to the creation of Shadow, a hedgehog who would rock Mobius to its core.
1. Chapter 1: First Contact

Five years before the rise of Robotnik's empire:

"Doctor, the natives have surrounded us with their troops!" Ivo reported with a mild rebuke in his tone.

The leader of the expedition sighed inwardly. Ivo Robotnik was a prodigy, both in the sciences and martial arts, but he lacked the courage to break the rules of his culture, even when it was clearly the only way to avert the destruction of the natives of this planet. A civil war was brewing in the native population of the planet they were about to land on (dubbed by its inhabitants 'Mobius') one that would permanently divide the population of this carefree planet. Although the natives were too primitive to destroy Mobius, the human observers couldn't allow them to start a war that would last into the nuclear age when the inhabitants would then go out of their way to destroy each other with these weapons, damning themselves to the same fate humanity narrowly avoided back during the War on Earth.

"I still say that this was a mistake," Ivo continued, "at best we delay this war, at worst we make ourselves the enemy!" Even in his relaxed posture he loomed over his mentor, over seven feet tall and twice as wide as an ordinary person, Ivo was the sort of person you could easily mistake for a massively fat man. This impression remained until one saw the ease, precision and swiftness of his motion, which revealed a strength and agility at odds with his expertise in the sciences. He wore his brown hair very short and even in his early twenties it was beginning to recede.

"Quiet, Ivo. Await instructions and be prepared for possible attack." The older scientist ordered "Our translators should work, though, so any hints of conflict will be apparent early enough for us to escape if need be."

Ivo appeared frustrated at the lack of a satisfactory explanation, but kept his silence as commanded.  
The door on the research ship hissed open and revealed the rows of Mobian soldiers standing in chainmail armour before them. Again the old scientist was struck by the resemblance to Terran animals; a trait had led to an early hypothesis that there was a connection between earth and Mobius. This theory had been proven conclusively wrong, as although they had evolved along similar lines to Earth born creatures, their evolution was the result of chaotic radiation.

The general hostility of the natives could be felt even this early on in the encounter, causing many of the combat trained members of the humans group to tense ready for what seemed to be an inevitable fight.  
If those fools make one wrong move, on either side we're looking at a war. Thought the doctor in frustration.

"Hold up, ladies and gentlemen!" called Ivo to the landing crew, in fluent Mobian "We didn't come here to fight with the people of Mobius; we came to teach them the ways of the stars."

The doctor sighed in relief as his protégé managed to cause enough surprise amongst both the human science crew and the Mobian soldiers to at least get the time to talk things out. If only he hadn't promised something that they really didn't want to give.

"Eerr, yes we will need to discuss this with you leader though before we give you this knowledge, however." The older scientist said.

"How do we know this isn't some trick to assassinate the king?"  
But, always, there was some slow idiot, in this case a massively built bull holding a claymore, carrying on with the old thread of thought. The previous tension began to rapidly seep back, but Ivo though quickly.

"If we were intent on that we wouldn't have landed here we would have simply destroyed him along with his castle and family."

"No one can do that!" The bull said angrily "Not with a thousand cannons, definitely not with a fancy silver boat that flies!"

Ivo now looked amused "I didn't come here to trade threats with a stupid, overgrown, inbred foot soldier."

Oh, god, thought Ivo's mentor. Why is he instigating this fight? He knows that this idiot is a member of the aristocracy by his armour. He knows that such an insult cannot be let slide, by Mobian nobility.

"How dare you?!" Roared the bull "Don't you know who I am?!"

"Offhand I can't say I do, we only concerned ourselves with important individuals, not minor members of the nobility." Ivo retorted in a deliberately arrogant tone.

This was too much for the bull to take. He roared in rage and charged at Ivo with his sword raised. Ivo waited until the last second and sidestepped the attack. The massive human then moved with shocking speed to deliver a punch to the side of the bulls head, just enough to daze him and allow Ivo to disarm him without severely hurting him. Ivo then pinned the bull to the ground and held him there without any outward display of effort. The bull struggled and pushed up managing to gouge out Robotnik's left eye, allowing him to turn the tables and pin the massive human to the ground.

This didn't have the desired effect though as Ivo managed to get his feet under the bull and kick him away, causing the bull to fly several feet back before crashing to the ground and landing in an embarrassing heap. Ivo was quickly on his feet and the bull quickly recovered from his fall. Both of them looked ready to kill the other, with the human science crew at a loss of how to diffuse the situation.

The soldiers seemed about to come to the aid of their comrade when one of them in decorated armour raised his hand

"Enough! Arie, stop struggling and try not to infect the situation with your stupidity anymore" Called the decorated hedgehog

"But, Milord," The bull, named Arie, gestured in Robotnik's direction, who looked just as disappointed.

"I said, enough!" The hedgehog said firmly, "we came here to determine who these things were and we got that. We didn't come here to start a fist fight with a bunch of furless aliens."  
Well this is getting off to a wonderful start I see, mused the old scientist, my student is half-blinded and we've managed to incur the hostility of the military, but diplomatic channels ARE open, which is good. Best get things off to a start and find out who I'm dealing with. "Inquiring minds would like to know who you are, since you so graciously prevented my student from starting a war with your world."

"Of course, my name is Jules the fourth of house hedgehog, eldest son of Reginald, Grand Duke of the Emerald Hill and Green hill territories." The Hedgehog bowed graciously.

The scientist covered up his laughter with a perfectly polite smile "I think you may need to send a messenger to the king to let him know in advance of our presence and intentions, after what happened here just now." The old scientist said "My name is Doctor Gerald, by the way."


	2. Chapter 2: Mobotropolis

"You nearly ruined everything Ivo!" Snapped Gerald, "All that hard work and research destroyed by a moments stupidity." Gerald eased his tone and expression somewhat, but still seemed visibly angry, "As it turns out this worked in our favour, making us seem like we can defend ourselves rather than just allowing them to take what knowledge we have."

"I'm not the one to blame! I didn't call anyone an assassin or threaten anyone." Ivo said, carefully avoiding wincing as certain nerves were severed ready for implant of a bionic eye to replace the one he lost in the earlier scuffle. The procedure was being handled by a machine that could compensate for twitches but all the same.

"No, you did worse, you made us seem arrogant. You made it seem as though we have no respect for their culture."

"Do we?" Ask Ivo in an incredulous tone, "I was under the impression that we were here to change their culture, because it's hard to respect a race that forces its children into marriages in their early teens and practises controlled inbreeding to bring out the strengths of said parents."

"The reason we came was to research chaos energies impact on a culture as it develops, and keeping them from tearing themselves apart is a necessary part of that research."

Ivo focused his good eye on his mentor. "No, it's interference, which is a direct violation of our orders." Ivo sighed and went on, "I understand why you did it but I don't agree, and never will. I gave my word I would back your decisions back on Erud though and I intend to keep that promise, though."

A there was a sound indicating that someone wished to talk to the occupants of the room. Gerald walked over to the intercom giving Ivo a look that clearly said the discussion wasn't over.  
"Yes?"

"The messenger's got back and the natives are 'ready to escort you and your retinue to the castle of king Maximillian'."

"Good! I'll be on the way, be sure to let them know that my retinue will be missing the troublemaker who caused the fight earlier." Ivo nearly shifted away from the machine during the installation of his new eye at this comment as Doctor Gerald left the room.

Half an hour later and they had arrived at the city called Mobotropolis. Given the technological level of Mobius it was unsurprising that the place stank horribly. Perhaps Ivo Robotnik's promise to give the Mobians new technology was a good idea, thought Gerald; we can start with decent sanitation and Maglev vehicles so we don't have to endure this stench.

It was clear that the Mobian soldiers were used to this smell, but the humans had long since forgotten what it was like to live in a medieval city and couldn't help but screw up their noses at it.

"Try to keep you faces under control, we can't give the impression that this city is repulsive in anyway." Gerald murmured to the nearest human scientist who had a very ugly screwed up expression on her face that would have looked comical in any other situation.  
The woman looked at Gerald with shock and gestured around, silently but clearly demonstrating her point about the city.

Gerald sighed and nearly gagged because of it, "I know, but it's the best they can do with the knowledge they have. Try not to give the impression that we've seen much better." The woman nodded and tried to keep a less screwed up face.

For their part the Mobians were bearing up to the concept of extra-terrestrials better than humans were (given that humans tended to be the meddling aliens instead of the ones in films) They hadn't ran screaming (much), or come in droves to stare at the alien freaks (not to say that there weren't any that did, but not nearly as many as you'd expect). Mostly they ignored the humans and carried on with business as usual.

When they reached the Castle/Palace of King Maximillian, Gerald couldn't help but think of the better condition of the walls compared to the outer walls of the city. Clearly the royalty considered themselves a far greater priority than the citizens within the rest of Mobotropolis. With this observation in mind he began to formulate his plans for diplomacy.

The Grand Hall within the fortress was a clichéd medieval court, complete with minor to major nobility just standing about, making plans, plots and deals, usually involving land or money. Gerald spotted the bull that had earlier been fighting Ivo in single combat. Arie shot the humans a glare of undisguised rage, a clear obstacle to any political argument.

"May I present the honourable Gerald and the human delegation?" Cried Jules, announcing the presence of the humans with obvious clarity

"And the currently deaf delegation of humans is grateful for the introduction." Murmured Gerald "As soon as our hearing returns that is."

The brown hedgehogs green eyes looked amused before he returned to attention.

Gerald had to admit that the conqueror of Mobius didn't look like much, an old blue/grey hedgehog wrapped in a heavy cloak and missing an eye. The hedgehog held himself with an upright posture that displayed, if not strength, at least enormous pride. It was easy to see how the wars that ultimately led to his dominion were caused. His youngest child, a dark purple hedgehog female with dark, almost black, eyes stood at the left arm of her father, looking slightly worried at the presence of these tall (mobians usually being less than four feet tall) furless aliens within her home. Gerald noticed the way she also glanced regularly at Jules when she thought her father wasn't looking.

Aleena, thought Gerald, the other princelings must be scattered throughout the kingdom on political duties. Well, that's good, since Auron would have been hard to persuade. Now we just have wait for the first move in these talks.

The old hedgehog spoke first, "I must admit I was somewhat surprised by your arrival and even more so by your claim that you could teach me or my kingdom anything."

Great! Thought Gerald, We'll not only have to deal with a selfish ruler but an arrogant one too. "It's not a claim, your Majesty; there is much you can learn if you're willing to listen." Gerald controlled his tone carefully to avoid insulting the people in the hall, "For example we can teach you how to make weapons that can kill regardless of how much armour or rock is in the way. Or machines that can travel far faster than the mounts you ride."

"I would have to see that for myself. I don't believe that any weapon can cut through the finest armour we can make, and nothing travels faster than a trained Mantis beast." stated Arie.

"That's the second time you've doubted us today, idiot! Don't you think it would be wiser to approach the problem with a more open mind?" countered Gerald coolly. The bull was beginning to irritate Gerald somewhat, reminding him of certain members of the Erudii council who did not believe in moving into the research of chaos energy, more to prevent the rise of old man Gerald who had focussed on researching the unexplored fields of science rather than sticking with the safer areas. His researches had granted him enormous respect amongst the older and youngest generations of councillors but had alienated him from those in his generation of scientist, as success and notoriety sometimes did.

The bull snarled, and the hedgehog king began to look interestedly at the situation, clearly wishing to see this 'weaponry' in action. Jules looked as though he was about to step in until a gesture from the king caused him to step back.

Clearly I'm going to have to sort this out on my own then. Gerald thought of a way to deal with the situation without having to kill the bull, but no real option presented itself. Oh well I never liked him anyway. Best get him to try to attack first though. "You know that your insubordination isn't going to reflect well on your reputation after this is over, don't you Arie?"

"It will be a great honour to kill alien assassins and I'll be a hero!" Snarled the bull

"Please, don't embarrass yourself with those childish claims anymore. You want these fights to bolster your own ego, not to accomplish any service to your king."

This insult was too much for the bull to bear and he let out a deafening roar before charging with his sword drawn. Gerald quickly drew his concealed laser pistol and burnt a gaping hole straight through the obnoxious warrior's chest.

The hall was silent for a full minute.

King Maximillian spoke first "An entertaining display of weaponry Gerald, but you've left a mess on my hall. We'll have to cancel the meeting until we can get it removed, meanwhile you may travel about the castle as you will, but escorted by young Jules to ensure no other incidents occur." The old hedgehog looked neither angry nor afraid, with an unreadable expression. As the turned to leave the grand hall Gerald saw the king lean to his right to whisper with a hunched creature of unknown origin. All that Gerald could see was a very long snout protruding from the hood of its fully enclosing robe.  
So that's the Oracle that Mobians refer to. Probably just a fraud, but a fraud with influence over the crown is still dangerous. Gerald thought

"Well, that didn't go as smoothly as expected." Said Jules after they were outside, "Can't say I miss Arie, though."

"I've been meaning to ask about him. Why did you tolerate his attitude?"

Jules looked somewhat uneasy, his ears drooping slightly, "I'm only fifteen years old, barely an adult. Arie was older and from a very powerful family, so his status allows him a certain degree of freedom to behave as he pleases."

"You're only fifteen?!" Asked one of the scientists from Gerald's retinue, obviously forgetting that Mobians reached physical maturity at a younger age, a trait compensated for by their fifty four year average life span.

"Only fifteen?! How long before your kind become adults?" Retorted Jules in mock anger.

"Humans age slower than Mobians, Jules. It's not unheard of for our people to live for more than a hundred years back home." Replied Gerald in a calm tone.

"What do you do with all that time?"

"Study the Universe, in my case, and look into aspects of it I've never seen before." Gerald replied

"Oh, I think I can understand that." Said the brown furred hedgehog "Just one question; what's a universe?"

Gerald sighed, before moving the conversation on. "So, where are the two princes Auron and Alio?"

Jules was obviously caught off guard by the sudden change of subject, so much so that he didn't ask how Gerald came to know about the two princes "Th-they aren't here, they're on theirrrr own lands." Jules finished the last word too quickly.

Well that confirms it at least, thought Gerald, I was fairly certain the probes were correct, that the heirs were out for political reasons, but it doesn't hurt to have confirmation. It's good that our new friend Jules is a terrible liar. And now to change the subject again!

"You said that your people mature about 15, correct?"

"Yes." Asked Jules slightly contentiously

"How long exactly do Mobians live, as in usually?"

"I don't like where this is going, Gerald!" Replied Jules firmly

"Well, humans found ways to extend their life spans through science, since our natural lives were only 60 years long, not that many centuries ago." Gerald said, with the slightest hint of pride.

Jules bristled slightly, then glanced back to the throne, then turned briefly to Gerald, excused himself and left.

*************

A few hours later, aboard the shuttle, Ivo had cleaned up the resultant blood and pus of his eye replacement. He was waiting on the command deck of the craft for Gerald's return, and was growing impatient.

"BE AWARE, THE SENIOR OFFICER IS ABOARD, DOCTOR ROBOTNIK STANDS RELIEVED."

"How right you are, computer!" Ivo murmured to himself.

A minute later and Gerald stepped onto the deck, beaming with satisfaction.

"Well?" Ivo asked with just the hint of demand

"Well, I was right." Surprise, surprise! Thought Ivo, "The Mobians accepted the deal and they even gave us access to the chaos emerald we thought they had."

"As good as that news is: what do we have to give them?" demanded Ivo suspiciously.

Gerald gave Ivo a slightly hard look. "They want us to teach them how to make laser weapon, how to use electricity and how to make combustion engines."

"Why did they give us access to the chaos emerald, though?"

"Well, there's the rub, they king wants us to find a way to extend the royal family's life spans, which doesn't really work in a generation." Gerald replied "So I asked if we could use land our main ship on the planet as a base, and transfer the chaos emerald there so can research into using chaos energy to extend life."

"And how, exactly do you intend to extend their lives when we still know so little about their biology?" Ivo asked

"You are going to develop a life form designed to process chaos energy naturally and to be immune to the effects of ageing" Gerald replied

"Me? Why me?" Ivo looked confused

"After that display today, you will need something large scale to redeem your reputation as a scientist and diplomat and this is the best way I can think of to do it." Gerald replied harshly.


	3. Chapter 3: Shadow

5 months later

A human student ran full pelt down the corridor of what was once the ship, blonde hair flapping behind her. She was late again, and her cousin wouldn't be please at all if she missed the awakening of his creations. She cursed her luck again at being assigned to the same research team as her cousin, who never ceased to rub in her face that HE was one who had brought the greatest pride to the family name. The fact that she was 3 years younger and still in work experience apparently didn't count with him.

Taking a few seconds to check she hadn't left any of her notes behind, straightened her lab coat and walked through the door.

"Ah, our aspiring xeno-psychologist has arrived, and not a moment too soon" Ivo said with a undeniable sneer on his face which bore a heavy handlebar moustache, turning almost immediately away from his slight cousin back to the hedgehog inside the left hand birthing tank. The room was lined with computers most of which had a member of Project: Shadow working at them. In the back part of the room were the two birthing tanks, each containing an infant hedgehog (although the tanks were completely opaque, since even light might have disrupted the development of the specialised life forms within), both of which were connected to the chaos emerald on loan from king Maximillian. Before the tanks was her arrogant cousin, Ivo Robotnik awaiting the time to pluck the fruits of his labours.

"Doctor, subject one is now operating without its life support." Reported one of the scientist

"Initiate the release sequence."

"Release sequence completes in 10 seconds...8...7...6...5...4...3." the birthing tank hissed as it depressurised "2...1... Release complete" As the scientist said this, the tank opened to reveal its contents. A dull red infant hedgehog with black stripes was revealed.

Many of the scientists (including the girl) turned to look as Ivo approached the newborn hedgehog, which was why the bio-monitors were ignored as the creature began to exhibit dramatic mutations at a genetic level due to the ambient chaos energies.

The first sign was when the new creature began to grown visibly before the eyes of the research team. Ivo turned to the scientist and roared the order to tranquilize it, but as he turned back it raised its arm slashed his remaining organic eye suddenly with claws that had not been there when it was born. Ivo howled in pain and anger, grabbed the thing (which now had reptilian scales and completely black eyes with no pupils and was almost as large as a dog) and body slammed it into the floor, crushing its entire body all at once.

"Right, we'll need to clean this mess up." Ivo said furiously, "I want an autopsy within the hour and-"

"Ivo! Look!" the girl shouted

The massive scientist turned around and saw the apparently flattened creature seem to re-inflate, its arms and legs beginning to move with increasing precision. It was clearly no longer a hedgehog, resembling a komodo dragon in both shape and proportions.

"Get a stasis cage ready!" Ivo shouted as he went to grab an emergency canister from beside one of the computers. As the creature began to get up Ivo turned and sprayed it with the liquid nitrogen meant to be used on metallic fires aboard the vessel. Several other scientist followed suit, spraying the creature until well after it had stopped moving. Everyone seemed relieved, so the girl took the time to glance at the bio-monitor.

"Ivo, it's still has life signs, very low at the moment but increasing they're increasing. If it breaks free-"

"Where's that stasis cage?!" Roared Robotnik at the top of his lungs.

Almost in answer to his question the door to the laboratory opened with the stasis cell humming ready to imprison the reptilian monster. Many of the scientists had to help try to squeeze the still growing creature into the cell. As it began to struggle, it proved virtually impossible to stuff in until Ivo grabbed one it's armed and tore it out of its socket, causing the creature to go into shock, allowing the scientists to get it into the cage and imprison it just before it outgrew the cage entirely.

The entire room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, Ivo now clutching his hand over his obliterated eye.

Wow, thought the girl, I wonder what he's going to lose next here on this rock!?

"I want this room ready for the birth of the other one, just in case this happens again." Snapped Ivo, "When it's born notify me immediately!"

With those orders Ivo strode from the room, with the arm of the first prototype gripped firmly in his right hand. Clearly he intended to examine it while he was having his eye replaced.

Everything was quiet for several minutes.

"Subject two is beginning to exhibit independent life signs." Cried one of the scientists.

"Notify doctor Robotnik! Proceed with release!" Commanded the girl clearly and confidently

"But, the doctor didn't give orders for that, what if this one mutates in the same fashion as before?" said the scientist in charge of the release unit

Good point, thought the girl. If it mutated the men and women in this room may not be able to contain it, unless they were prepared in advance...

" Get another stasis cage on stat, and you, you and you stand by with in case it needs to be doused with nitrogen!" the girl commanded "Now initiate the release process."

The tension in the room climbed considerably as the count ran down. As the birthing tank hissed open and revealed a black hedgehog with red stripes along its main quills, with a red stripe on each of its forearms and lower legs.

"Subject two is exhibiting no active mutation, but it seems to be manufacturing chaos radiation on its own."

This explains what happened earlier, the girl thought. Since Ivo had only taken into account the chaos emeralds radiation, something we couldn't have foreseen in a million years.

As the girl approached the infant hedgehog it opened its eyes. It held her gaze with crimson eyes that seemed to bear a boundless curiosity, so she returned its stare with her blue ones. The girl moved in and picked it up and cradled it in her arms still maintaining eye contact with the tiny hedgehog. Although it whimpered when touched it didn't cry or seem alarmed, not breaking its gaze for a micro second.

Calmly, ignoring the fact that children cannot understand speech immediately after birth, the girl said "Hello, I'm Maria."

The black hedgehog continued its gaze for a few seconds, closed its eyes, and leaned its head back against her arm said "Ma...ri...aa." and dozed off.


	4. Chapter 4: The Meeting

Case Log: 03755  
Project Lead IR-46325 DR  
Progress Date: 3W6D  
Subject Name: Shadow  
Recipient: GR-47636 DR

Nearly four weeks have passed since the subject was released. The subject continues to demonstrate a phenomenal learning capacity, picking up new words and ideas with astounding pace. The subject has formed a quasi familial bond with the Xeno-Psychologist, allowing her to more effectively analyse its development both mentally and physically. The subject has experienced no genetic deterioration to indicate conventional ageing, but examinations will continue to be performed in case of delayed reaction. The most remarkable trait that the subject exhibited was its ability to absorb and radiate ambient chaos energy. This would have proven problematic if the ROCC development crew hadn't created miniaturised versions of the ROCC device we use to contain the chaos emerald (The specs and design have been attached to this report/ File no. 351 737 647.). These devices completely contained the subject's innate chaos energy radiation, although they have been designed to respond to his neuro-chemical impulses in order to allow it to use natural chaos power. The subject was reluctant to have the devices affixed to its arms and legs, but the X-P was able to persuade it to accept them. Since the subject was still an infant it was decided to accelerate its growth to physical maturity, despite strong protests from the X-P. (Recommend disciplinary action is taken)  
After the second week its leg strength was too great for the floor to withstand. However, a pair of air shoes, commonly used for the Muon competitions, was available. These were modified to create a repulsive force whenever the subject steps, allowing it to walk without causing more damage. The shoes have also been altered so that they would adjust themselves to the wearer, initially shrinking to fit the subject's feet, but have also adjusted to its rapid growth. The owner of the air shoes has been recompensed.  
In keeping with the subjects increased learning capacity it has been placed on a computerised flash training programme to allow it to learn what it wants when it wants.  
End of Log  
Subjects psych evaluation is attached, along with its current extent of knowledge and learning  
/File no. 351 737 650

Maximilian sat in the back of the human 'sky limousine'. He was astounded by the smoothness of the ride, something he would never admit to anyone, however. The Human flying machines were the most remarkable devices in the minds of the peasantry of his empire, since it seemed impossible for such a heavy object to remain airborne for so long. It seemed a pity, sometimes, that the most remarkable things about humans would probably remain unknown by the commons and the nobility. The secrets of immortality were being unlocked, a secret known only to those closest to the royal family.

"Approaching destination! Touchdown in 30 seconds!" Spoke the bland feminine voice of the crafts computer.

This was the most unnerving trait of the humans. They felt the need to give their creations voices and minds (although humans said that these minds were purposefully limited). It was unnerving that what was basically a glorified sedan chair was had what appeared to be a soul. Gerald had once said that human children sometimes played pranks involving the minds o these machines, but promised that all machines that were for royal use would be checked for these things.

The transport landed and the door hissed open, the change in air pressure causing King Max's ears to pop. As he looked down to the landing pad he saw Gerald waiting to greet him. The old human hadn't seemed to change a bit since their last meeting, an advantage that he knew he didn't share with the tall human. Max knew that his own physical appearance was that of an older wearier hedgehog, his body feeling increasingly painful as the short months passed.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Gerald's voice betraying what was obviously glee, either at Max's well concealed suffering or the success of his immortality project.

"Greetings, Doctor Gerald, We trust you called us here to tell us you've succeeded in finding a way of extending our life span?" King Max replied wearily. He didn't expect an affirmative answer to this question as Gerald had informed him in the initial negotiations that he was already too old to be renewed.

"I'm afraid that we can't find a way to make you last longer, even though the subject will mean that future generations of your family will possess immortality. The project is ahead of schedule, with the infant already born and it exhibits all the physical requirements of immortality. His education-."

"We would prefer to keep his education under our control." Interrupted Maximilian  
Gerald looked somewhat surprised at the firmness in the Kings voice, gathered himself and finally said "I'm afraid it's a little too late for that. When we discovered how fast he learns we began giving him the information he asked for. He ran through the complete known history of Mobius and your empire in a day, and then went on to studying concepts at a level that isn't achieved until a human reaches their teens normally."

Maximilian was furious, how dare these humans create a being and begin its education without his direction. He should-

"Do remember, Your Majesty, that we humans don't belong to Mobius and that we aren't simply going to leave our creation in your hands without the means to take control of his own destiny." Gerald stated calmly, clearly noticing Max's thunderous expression.

"The destiny of all life forms is determined by their superiors of blood!" Max half shouted

"If that were so you would be taking order from him right now!" Stated a female voice behind him. Max whirled painfully to face this impertinent new human.

"Ah, Maria Robotnik, I see you have arrived," Gerald indicated the yellow haired human female who stared at Maximilian with thinly concealed revulsion "Your Majesty, this is the woman who has raised the subject from birth and has handled his education." Although shorter than Gerald, she was nearly twice the height of Maximilian.

"Majesty." The woman perfunctorily bowed, not breaking eye contact for a second.

"She will give you the details about the subject and his physical abilities, and Maria will also introduce you to him in as well." Max noticed Maria's eyes flicker towards Gerald in surprise before returning to the King of Mobius.

"This way, you're Majesty." Maria indicated with a neutral tone.

The gray hedgehog followed the human down to a door which opened unassisted, allowing them entry to the base proper. As they entered the base the blonde human began to explain the nature of the infant's abilities discovered thus far, explaining that his powers were somewhat unstable at the moment.

"This is all well and good, but you don't seem to have explained what his education has been so far, or what his name is."

"Well, you'll have an ample opportunity to discover his name, Your Majesty, because here we are." Maria operated a control beside a door which magically opened into a large room filled with brightly coloured toys and machinery. The strangest object within the room was a belt on a machine that had a control dial set above the belt. Stepping off the belt was the strangest hedgehog he had ever seen. With his golden rings shining in the light, he seemed to glide with alarming speed directly over too Maria, who picked him up when he reached her. Maria looked tenderly at the black hedgehog infant for a few seconds, and then turned to Maximilian.

"Shadow, this is the King you've learned about. King Maximilian, this is Shadow the Hedgehog."

The old hedgehog directed a totally expressionless gaze at the infant hedgehog cradled within the human's arms, who returned it with a curious stare. The black hedgehog leapt out of Maria's arms and strode boldly over to Max.

"Hello." Said the black hedgehog, his crimson gaze fixed on the kings brown eyes. The king was totally nonplussed, Gerald had said that the infant was not even four weeks old but he appeared to be at least three month in age.

Maria spoke up, "Shadow, I need to go talk to someone, can I count on you to answer any of the kings questions while I'm gone?"

Shadow simply turned to look at Maria, said a simple, "Yes." And returned to his study of King Max.

Once Maria was outside Shadows chamber she turned went into the observation room just next door. Inside was Gerald and Ivo, both waiting for her to arrive.

"Well, I see why you were so intense on his first subject of education." Stated Maria with a bland tone.

"I have worked the closest with the Mobians since we've arrived, and the first thing I've noticed is that they tend be very good at believing the advice of so called 'wise men'" Replied Gerald with a faint sneer. "It's such a shame that an otherwise intelligent, gifted life form could be educated into a destructive being like the king of Mobius."

"Maria, will Shadow be able to alter their culture if he marries into the royal family?" Gerald suddenly asked.

"Yes, given a couple of centuries and a decent education, I'm sure he could change Mobian culture for the better."

"Another piece of good news is his immortality is also capable of passing on to any offspring." Ivo reported

"You didn't mention that there was any doubt of that, in the file!" Gerald rebuked the hulking scientist

"No, I didn't, but that information was too sensitive to pass along computerised channels. We can't run the risk of some idiot letting that slip." Ivo replied calmly

Gerald glared at his protégé for a few seconds and returned his gaze to the viewing port. Maria also looked in on Shadow and his conversation with the ruler of Mobius. King Maximilian had a completely lost and confused expression as Shadow was explaining the history of the Mobian Kingdoms prior to Maximilian's birth. Maria was grateful for the reflective glass that concealed them behind the mirror, as she had a hard job keeping from laughing out loud.

It was Ivo who spoiled the moment, his massive shadow covering both scientists "We're going to have to wrap this up. I'm going to have to run some more tests on Shadows metabolic rates."

"Didn't you do that yesterday?!" snapped Maria, not angry but mildly irritated at the unpleasant prospect of having to deal with the King again. She turned to see Ivo looking at the bio-monitor.

"These reading can't be right, though. No life form has a metabolic rate like this." Ivo exclaimed with a somewhat curious expression.

Maria sighed, "Okay, I'll escort his Royal Highness out of our lab."

What was wrong with this child?! Thought Maximilian in alarm He understands things it took others years to even begin to comprehend! And how is it that he is older than they proclaim him to be? Obviously he isn't immortal otherwise he would take much longer to age this far!

The door to the nursery hissed open, causing Shadow to look past Max's shoulder as he turned to see the blonde human female enter the room again.

"Have you seen all you need to?" She asked calmly, her face devoid of any emotion

"Yes, for now." Said Max with a slight hint of his frustration.

Maria turned to Shadow as the infant said "Goodbye, then, Maria, Max."

Max felt a flicker of frustration at Shadow's continued indifference to titles. Obviously the little hedgehog was very intelligent, but he still had a lot to learn about propriety. He strode from the room without glancing back and began to walk directly towards the exit.

He heard Maria excuse herself from Shadow's room and hurry to meet him on his way to the landing pad. Before reaching the exit he turned to face her and asked bluntly "Why is it that Shadow appears older than you said he is?"

"We used chemicals to accelerate his growth to maturity." Maria replied with only a hint of irritation.

"Hm... That may be possible, but why would you do that?" The King demanded

"Because the only time you can truly tell if anything is immortal is when it is physically mature. We should have complete results in three and a half years. In the meantime I suggest you wait for those results" Maria said coldly.

If that wasn't a dismissal then he didn't know what was. He stepped through the door onto the landing pad and proceeded straight to the transport back to Mobius. It was clear that some amongst the Humans did not enjoy the presence of Mobians, and this Maria was one of them. He clearly had much to discuss with his privy council.


	5. Chapter 5: Politics

The Oracle hobbled into the main council chamber and seated himself on the immediate right hand chair of the kings. The council chamber was open and well lit, and might have been described as beautiful had it not been getting late already the orange light contrasting to the shadows of the windows in dramatic fashion.  
Strange, how the greatest secrets are handled in the brightest room on Mobius, thought the Oracle with a hint of amusement as he then waited for the members of the inner council to arrive.

First to arrive was King Maximilian, who had called the meeting, striding directly up to his chair and taking his seat, turning immediately to the Oracle.

"You know why I called you here?" Asked Maximilian

"The child?"

The old hedgehog looked satisfied, "What does this little creature intend?"

"I don't know, his destiny is clouded, and I cannot pierce the veil of his actions." The Oracle replied directly, "Whatever he is he doesn't seem to have a normal destiny, even his creators are more visible to me."

"And what about them? Can they be trusted?"

"The humans? They would see our culture ground beneath their ideology of 'progress'. As for them being a threat to your power? No, their mastery of machinery gives them the belief that they can peaceably change us without a confrontation." The Oracle was confident of his words, since his scrying had revealed such human arrogance.

The Oracle had seen many Mobian kingdoms rise and fall within his time and had assisted in the rise of King Max because he was able to manipulate him and those within his inner circle save for as few of the younger generation.

The discussion of the humans and the infant hedgehog continued until the door opened and revealed the Grand Duke Reginald and his son Jules. Reginald's spines were brown but greying near to the base of his head and most of his fur was a mixture of grey and brown, with the same emerald green eyes that his family were famous for. He wore a slightly formal blue doublet and hose, a type of clothing still popular in the higher echelons of society. A reliable hedgehog, able to keep his wilful son under some degree of control, thought the Oracle.

With that thought the Oracle turned his attention to the younger hedgehog, keeping a careful gaze on him. Jules had never accepted the Oracles divinations, believing in independent destiny and self determination. He returned the Oracle gaze with one of his own, wary of the Oracles other abilities. Jules had left his armour and weaponry, and was dressed in a plain brown and black set of court clothing. Jules was one of the few Mobians he truly admired, because he alone intuitively understood that there was no fixed destiny.

"You're Majesty, Your Excellency!" Stated Reginald, before he seated himself in his place, while Jules took his own position further down the table.

Jules interjected before his father could create a sufficiently florid greetings speech "I've heard that you met the infant today. How was he?" The Oracle was surprised, and it was evident from the faces of Max that he hadn't informed Jules of the events earlier that day, either.

"How did-? " Started the Oracle before Reginald interrupted "What child?"  
Jules said nothing, maintaining a neutral expression while switching his gaze between the Oracle and the King. 'Again, I seem to have underestimated this hedgehog and his ability to sidestep my foresight.' Thought the Oracle with chagrin, although his visions had included this possibility, the actual thread of destiny which it was arranged was minor, against the odds. The Oracle was off balance enough that he failed to notice that Max had gathered himself and told Jules to wait until the rest of the council were present.

It was about quarter of an hour before the remainder of the inner council arrived. The two princes Auron and Alio were present along with four Grand Dukes, the Sorcerer of the Miracle planet and the chief of the guard Harold. Lastly Princess Aleena arrived and, ignoring protocols walked directly over to Jules and sat next to him. Jules gave no impression that he had even noticed her aside from a perfunctory bow towards her when she had arrived in the room.

The Oracle noticed the two and began to formulate a way to get a hold on the young brown hedgehog.

As the Oracle considered possibilities, Max rose and addressed the council, "You should all be aware of the arrival of the aliens on our planet almost half a year ago."

"And you should never have countenanced their unholy presence on our lands, your Majesty." Interjected Taur, Grand Duke of the Hilltop and Labyrinth regions. The massive bull was nearly as large as his nephew Arie, and he had held the humans responsible for both his nephew's death and the loss of influence in his family. His bitterness was sometimes difficult for the Oracle to work around, particularly in affairs relating to humans, fortunately not even he could change the outcome of this meeting, the Oracle was sure of it.  
Max simply replied with a threatening stare for a few seconds before the insolent duke lowered his head and broke eye contact.

The king continued as though there had been no interruption. "They have given us some means to produce deadly weapons and strange artefacts, but the main reason that we allow them to remain is because they have been attempting to create immortality for our people."

Many of the observers were awed at this statement, as even Taur's expression changed from anger to genuine interest. Many of the Grand dukes were old with death an increasing threat as every year passed. The only ones at the table who were unimpressed were Jules, who had an amused expression on his face as he glanced around at the council, and Aleena. The Princess continued to keep her eyes on Jules, increasing his discomfort at his surroundings. Max continued on, with most of the council's (including Jules') attention.  
The Oracle had also been paying minimal attention to the King's speech (because he had a very good idea of how the resultant debate would go), as he was focusing on Aleena and Jules. Jules was maintaining his attention on Max and the rest of the council, checking for reactions and hooks. Aleena meanwhile had finally despaired of getting the teenage hedgehogs attention for now, and began to sulk, maintaining minimal attention to the proceedings.

Max then reached the point where the Oracle had foreseen he would need someone to explain the nature and current capabilities of Shadow. This was done quickly, due to his lack of ability to actually detect artificial life forms, although he refrained from mentioning that to the council.

Almost immediately after the speech grand duke Taur spoke up; "I don't like that this 'Shadow' being educated by the humans. They won't respect our culture or ideals in their teachings."

"Agreed, but there's no way to get him away from their education methods without making him an enemy for life, and with his chaotic radiation abilities, no-one would be able to confront him in combat" The King replied with frustration evident on his face. "However, due to his accelerated ageing he should be ready so we can arrange a marriage between him and Aleena."

This statement caught the Oracle completely off guard, and it showed on his face. Aleena looked mortified, while many of the councillors looked approvingly at this political manoeuvre. The Oracle tried swiftly to devise a way to head this off but was beaten to it by Jules.

"The humans would never accept that, Your Majesty." He said calmly, "Humans cultural attitude means they would never accept a proposal of that sort without the willing consent of the princess. Since Shadow is going to be raised by them, I don't think he would accept the deal either."

Many of the councillors looked at Jules with chagrin, while the Oracle kept him expression neutral. Aleena looked completely relieved and had again started staring at Jules, perhaps even more intensely than before.

"We can't make decisions on the way we deal with this creature yet, my lords." The Oracle said with a certain amount of unspoken gratitude to Jules "If we start making decisions now that require his personality growing within our cultures boundaries then he'll thwart us at every step."

The council eventually moved on to other subjects and was dismissed well after dark. Everyone left the chamber with the princess following Jules out of the chamber. The Oracle took note of this and followed the two young hedgehogs into the corridor.

Jules made turned the corner and slide behind an ancient battle standard to conceal himself from his pursuers. Aleena stopped as she turned the corner, searched vainly for a short while and then gave up, proceeding for her own chambers.

Jules waited for several minute and didn't actually see the Oracle at all. That was fortunate, since he didn't trust that seer at all. 'If you can see the future you can turn it to your advantage, after all.' Thought Jules as he departed from his place of concealment.

"Of course, but the same rule applies to any ability" Said a very familiar voice behind him, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin and whirl around almost too fast.

Jules was shocked; there was no other way to put it. Not only had the Oracle kept himself completely concealed, but he'd somehow read his outer thoughts. Jules quickly gathered his wits and kept his eyes on the ancient creature, wary of any more tricks.

"You know, I really never understood why you keep on avoiding that girl," The Oracle said conversationally, "by your species tastes she really is quite beautiful. So much more important than the maids here in the castle you keep using in order to gain the scraps of information you seem to have such a large amount of, too."

Jules stared at the Oracle in shock, how could he know? For even his powers would have been hard pressed to discover his means of information gathering here. 'I need to throw him off.' thought Jules. Quickly looking around to see if there were no observers, Jules replied, "Because she's a spoiled princess with no real psychological charm." Somewhat trite, and Jules knew that the Oracle knew it. He braced for the next comment.

"Be careful with human words, hedgehog. They are complex in comparison to your native speech." Again, Jules got the impression that the Oracle regarded the people of Mobius in the same way humans do.

"As for the princess, she may be young and innocent of politics, but she is the daughter of the king, so she's closer to the heart of the information that you night time playmates."

Jules was about to retort when it occurred to him that the old alien was right. Aleena was closer to the king than his sons, and just about innocent enough for him to manipulate into a spy of his own. The obvious benefits of a long term relationship also worked out in his favour as he could eventually use her influence to bolster his own against her brothers (Auron despised Jules due to his closeness to the humans. Alio also regarded him as a sneaky kid who stuck his nose in matter not of his concern.)

Jules looked suspiciously at the Oracle "Why would you recommend this course of action to me anyway, old one?" Jules didn't trust the Oracle because he didn't believe in 'the future'. He believed that his choices made a difference, unlike most other Mobians. It was because of this that Jules had become such a firm friend of the humans, particularly Gerald and Maria.

"Part of the reason I've decided to discuss this is because the only futures I see of the King attempting to force a marriage between Aleena and Shadow will only bring disaster, since his attitude wouldn't tolerate such an approach."

Jules had to agree. A secret he had kept from the King was that he too had met with Shadow, and had already noticed firm views on concepts that would be considered social heresy within Mobotropolis.

"And the rest of the reason?" Jules asked, hoping against hope for an answer.

"The rest I would prefer to keep to myself, thank you, boy." With that the Oracle used his powers to disappear.  
'I hate that habit of his!' Thought Jules bitterly, 'The annoying thing is he's right, though.' Jules thought as he turned and headed to the officers quarters of the castle barracks. Jules had a lot to think about for now, and a lot of planning if he intended to retain some degree of control of the situation.


	6. Chapter 6: The First Mission

Case Log: 04382  
Xeno-Psychologist: MR-5827 XP  
Progress date: 2Y1M7D  
Subject Name: Shadow  
Recipient: GR-47636 DR  
.In spite of the violent purposes behind them, Dr Robotnik developed the streamlined versions of the inhibitor rings, which now respond with greater efficacy to Shadows neural impulses, while also having a built in watch, speed meter and a new chaos energy gauge. Shadow almost immediately discovered a new way to use his chaos powers when he was given the new inhibitor rings, a means of teleportation, but this drained his energy reserves and left his stunned for half an hour. Since we returned the chaos emerald, it will be some time before shadow can replenish his chaos energy reserves. Dr Robotnik has estimated about a week.  
I understand that you wish to gauge Shadows physical potential, but I would like to second the protest of my superior, although for different reasons. Shadow is now powerful enough to not be physically endangered by active combat missions. However, his education has been geared to teach him the value of all life. He will be traumatised if forced to murder without adequate reason.  
I appreciate that the hackers cannot be allowed to keep the technology they've stolen, but we could simply send a team of our own guards to remove the rebels and interrogate them. There is no need for Shadow to be exposed to that kind of brutality.  
End of Log

Shadow sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room outside Gerald's office. The room was uncomfortably warm, a fact unaided by his bristling fur catching the air. The last time he had been here was when he was chewed out for breaking all the exercise treadmills within the base, so he was justifiably worried, particularly since he wasn't quite sure what it was he had done wrong.

Shadow's anxiety was briefly interrupted by the sound of thunderous footfalls, followed by a furious Dr Robotnik storming out of Gerald's office, completely ignoring Shadow as he went past, the ground left shaking in his wake. This did little to calm Shadow's worries, as it could be him that Ivo was enraged at.

"The Senior scientist will see you now, Shadow." said the metallic, female voice of the ships computer. Shadow walked into the office, his ears lowered and his expression contrite, preparing a fill in the words apology in his head, just in case.

He was somewhat surprised to see Jules standing next to a chair in from of the desk, with Gerald also standing, politely with speculative expressions on their faces.

"Sit down, Shadow, we have something to discuss with you." Said Gerald calmly, indicating the remaining chair on the left. Shadow sat in it, but he was unable to hide his confusion.

Gerald seemed to pick up on it and said "You've already met Jules hedgehog, now Grand Duke of the Emerald Hill, Green Hill and the new Chemical Plant regions. Recently he came to possess some information about a cache of weapons."

"Doctor, I don't understand why we should care about some weapons that we didn't make." Shadow stated, his confusion making his speech blunt.

"Normally, you wouldn't need to," Interjected Jules, "but these weapons were made using technology hacked from the servers here. A relatively minor lord thinks he can gain a political advantage by developing advanced weaponry that was reverse engineered from human tech; stuff beyond the laser gun designs granted to the Mobian Royal family and its supporters."  
Shadow looked at Jules in surprise.

"How could Mobians have found a way to hack our bases computers?" The very concept shocked the genetically engineered hedgehog

"Certain Mobians have thrown themselves into the art of hacking with wild abandon, not surprising given its powerful potential, but increasingly inconvenient." Answered Gerald, the anger showing on his face.

"There's a royal task force being sent to take the fortress with the weapons and technology, but it will take a day or so for it to get there. But they won't be able to stop the weapons from being used." Jules continued for Gerald.

"I assume you're not talking about plasma cannons or fusion grenades here? WMDs?" Asked Shadow his heart sinking.

*************

Later

'Cruise Missiles?!' Thought Shadow indignantly as he sped across several miles of open grassland, 'They sent me out to deal with a bunch of crappy insurgents with a set of glorified fireworks?!'  
With this thought he pushed his air skating technique even further and felt the vibrations of a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. He glanced briefly at his new inhibitor ring to confirm his current speed and returned to his private fuming.

He was so infuriated that he didn't notice the plain coming to an end until it was too late to slow down, and was clothes lined by a low branch from a tree. His momentum kept his body moving forward where he glanced a tree trunk at just below the speed of sound, causing the tree to disintegrate and shadow to lose what little control he had left over his direction. The pain caused Shadow to instinctively curl into a foetal position, closing his eyes, he then was sent spinning from yet another impact and after that several other impacts were felt, although much less painful than the one before.

When he had come to a halt, Shadow opened his eyes and began to take stock of the situation. As he looked around (while still curled up) he saw a number of had fallen, their trunks smashed from heavy impacts. As he attempted to uncurl he was wracked with pain all over his right side, particularly his right arm. Although the pain was still excruciating, he gently moved into a sitting position, allowing him to look around and examine his injury.

Shadow was somewhat surprised to find that it wasn't badly broken, although was currently out of position and would have to be moved into position where it could re-knit properly. Bracing against the pain, Shadow shifted the bone back into position. He then used a burst of chaos energy to accelerate his healing process in his arm.  
He howled in pain of accelerated healing for the next several minutes, until it gradually subsided and he got up. Checking a compass he had been kept in a compartment of one of his air shoes he checked his direction and jumped up to the higher branches of the forest.

Shadow quickly got clear of the forest leaping from branch to branch, but he had lost time in the initial crash, so much that it was now nearing noon. As he landed his panic lent him extra speed as he zipped in the general direction of the hostile base, his pride forgotten for the moment.

*************

A short while later

Shadow had been able to get to the base within a half hour after that incident, but he almost laughed when he saw that it was an archaic castle. Shamelessly grinning he made a quick examination of the fortress, confirming that it was just an ancient stone structure with laser weapon armed guards. Said guards looked comical in medieval armour, but Shadow did realise that this would make them harder to remove, since all he had were his bare hands.

Shadow decided that since the gate wasn't open and he needed a relatively quiet way into the fortress he would use his jumping power to get to the battlements. He found a position where he could watch safely at the left hand side of the fortress, waited until the sentry wasn't looking and ran up to the wall faster than the eye could see, jumping across the moat in the process. Unfortunately that level of speed created a noise from simple air friction and the sentry turned to look down at the field. The Sentry didn't bother looking straight down from the wall, after all nothing is THAT fast, and so shrugged and continued on his patrol route. Shadow had been watching the sentry, but waited a few minute after he left before he jumped several yards into the air and latched onto the wall with his gloved hands. Deciding against secrecy in favour of speed, he activated his air shoes to full capacity to provide a massive boost that carried him onto the battlements behind the sentry, who turned at the noise of the air shoes blasting.

The sentry paused for several seconds, confused by the outlandish appearance of shadow as much as his presence. As he tried to bring his laser rifle to bear Shadow had already begun to move bouncing off the walls ramparts and hurtling towards the sentry at an unexpected angle, delivering a punch to the guards chain mailed chest. Shadow heard the sentry's rib cage crack under the impact, and he saw his adversary drop the laser rifle unfired.

Before the guard could gather the breath to scream Shadow placed his gloved hand around his exposed gray furred neck, constricting his airways. Shadow then pulled off his helmet revealing a young fox of maybe seventeen years, who seemed surprise that this hedgehog of apparently ten years had managed to effectively capture him.

"Now, where are the weapons being kept?" Hissed Shadow

"The Armoury is on the, hrrrk-!" The foxes reply was cut off as Shadow squeezed his hand tighter around his neck. Shadow saw the foxes eyes bulge with fear, but if it was of the black and red striped hedgehog before him or his masters he couldn't tell.

"No, I'm thinking bigger, any big pointed objects about the height of a human?" Shadow then eased the pressure on the fox's air passage enough to allow him to breathe and speak slightly.

"The sky spear!? I don't know where it is I only heard lord Danzen talking about it." The fox replied faintly, his blocked air passage and broken ribs making it hard to breathe.

"Is that all you know?" Shadow asked quietly

"No, it isn't!" Replied the fox, smiling for a reason Shadow didn't realise until he saw the reflection in his eye.

Mason didn't know who this kid black hedgehog was but he knew he was strangling Wesley, so he tried to shoot it before it could kill him. To his surprise and alarm a fraction of a second before he pulled the trigger the black hedgehog launched itself to the side almost going over the edge of the wall while his laser fired, killing Wesley in a crackling flash of focused light. Mason realised too late that the black hedgehog had bounded forward so fast that it grabbed his laser rifle, ripped it from his arms and slammed the butt hard into his right leg, causing his leg to break and the bone to spike through the skin. Mason never got the chance to as the apparition suddenly gripped his neck and crushed the voice box before a sound could escape. The hedgehog's face showed a slight bit of disappointment as it reached around his next and broke his neck, then lowered him to the ground gently.

The last thing Mason saw was the black hedgehog picking up his laser rifle before walking along the wall while being careful to remain unseen.


	7. Chapter 7: Pressed for Time

Charles Hedgehog checked his map again, confirming that his unit would take until after nightfall to arrive at the rebel fortress. He turned to Sergeant Wilkinson, who returned his glance with a questioning look.

"Sorry, Sergeant. Looks like we're not going to get there until after dark." The lord said sadly. Although similar in build to his slightly older brother Jules, Sir Charles hedgehog was a pale, almost grey, blue colour, with a heavy moustache (which was almost pure white) and darker green eyes. His quills were worn in the same fashion, being swept back to keep them from getting in the way of the eyes. Aside from the gold stars on his collar, his armour was identical to the ablative vests of his regiment. Humans had demonstrated that wearing full armour against a laser gun didn't work, as even the armour worn by his unit would wear away quickly. At best it would protect against a glancing hit, a fact Charles was keenly aware of.  
"I could try to hurry the guys up, after all-." The old cat offered.

"No, they're already going as fast as they should, and we don't want to be exhausted by the time we get there." Charles knew old Wilkinson was coming to the point where he would be obliged to retire, but had decided to bring him along for this last mission, a kind of swansong for the cat who had taught him everything about fighting.

"Got it, milord." The cat looked approvingly at Charles. Wilkinson had never concealed his preference Charles compassionate leadership to Jules politicking and manipulations.

When the king had ordered Charles to take his regiment on the mission to capture and retrieve the technology, he had explicitly ordered the information kept away from Jules, who was being regarded with increasing coolness amongst the nobility for his closeness to the humans. In spite of the benefits that trade had brought, the human's naked contempt for the majority of the Mobian aristocracy had led to friction between the two factions. Charles disapproved of his brother's closeness to the human leader Gerald in particular and often wondered why he visited their base so often. In spite of them only being half an hour apart in birth his older brother had been totally secretive about his involvement with the humans, leading Charles to half suspect he was acting as a spy for these humans.

"If only the crown could have spared us one of those sky craft." Mused Wilkinson wistfully as they marched on, with Charles silently nodding his agreement.

Shadow had reached the inside gate, and was crouched behind a set of barrels, listening or any sign of alert. He knew that the dead sentries would inevitably be found, and that he would then have to ensure that none would escape.

That thought brought back the image in his mind of the fear in the sentry's eyes when Shadow interrogated him. He then thought about the other ones face, the surprise that was etched on his face before his face sagged with death. The only things he felt when thinking about them were a certain degree of regret and a shame that 'he' had been the one who ended them.

"This is nothing like the simulations." murmured Shadow.

"What was that?" One of the guards at the gate said, causing Shadow to hold his breath in case he was discovered.

"What?" Asked another one

"I thought you said something."

"You're bored out of your mind if you think that." Was the irritable reply.

"Well at least I actually hear things." The guard retorted hotly. At this point Shadow relaxed and started breathing again, although not loudly.

"Sometimes I think you hear things when there isn't anything to hear."

"Why you-!" The first guard was about to deliver he response when the alarm called, "Someone's inside, close the gates. Make sure they can't get out!"

Shadow looked up at the gate mechanism, noting that chains held it open, waited for a few seconds until the last of the outer guards were beneath the gate, then used his stolen laser rifle to cut the chains. The guards issued horrified screams as they were crushed by the weight of the wood and metal, causing the rest of their unit to turn and look at their stricken companions.

This was the perfect opportunity for Shadow, who attacked on instinct. Running above normal sprinting speeds Shadow fired his laser from the hip, its continuous beam scything through all but the fastest reacting guards. The remaining two guards were surprised and stunned by the sudden attack and this allowed Shadow to adjust his aim to kill the survivors. He pulled the trigger and was rewarded by the beep of a spent charge.  
Shadow stopped running and looked at his weapon in frustration, giving the guards enough time to get their bearings and return fire. Shadow barely dodged the hostile fire by leaping towards the wall, rebounding when he reached there and heading towards the nearest guard. The guard was quick enough dodge aside himself, but Shadow simply landed and lashed out with a kick that shattered the guard's neck as it pushed his head back. The force of Shadow's kick carried him on, past the other guard's attempts to fire at the position he had inhabited a fraction of a second before. The hedgehog landed at and simply ran down the surviving guard with sufficient force to cause his entire skeletal structure to shatter.

As Shadow was about to strip the now silent guards of their equipment he heard the cries of several approaching guards and decided to hide until he could recover from the fight. As he leapt onto the roof of one of the sheds he noted a stabbing pain in his right arm. As he climbed into it he noted that the pain intensified whenever he used that arm, so he took the time to check it again. The arm didn't feel broken, but his fur concealed any bruising (at least until any swelling would emerge). Shadow was now frustrated by this arm, irritated that it wouldn't stop aching when he needed to be one hundred percent. His thoughts then returned to the dead sentries on the wall again, and his frustration at himself again transformed into regret. He looked around the shed, noticing several sacks filled with grain and other long term food products and, much to his disappointment, no windows.

He waited until the guards stopped shouting out in alarm and then walked softly up to the door, which he was about to open when he heard the jingle of chainmail. He leapt behind the door and waited for the sound to go past slightly, quietly opened it and grabbed the guard from behind.

Shadow was confident he had surprised the guard so he started talk; "Not a good time to ignore your back, what happens if someone sneaks up be-hey!" The guard grabbed Shadows right arm, sending a lance of pain through him as it broke again, and slammed him into the floor and began to strangle him.

"Oh, no! You're not getting Ando like your friends got Sergeant Huols men!" The Guard screamed, his pink scaly tail waving violently. Shadow kicked the guard, Ando, off him and into the inner fortress walls.  
Bluntly, Shadow was surprised. He hadn't expected a guard to react as quickly as Ando, nor did he enjoy his arm breaking again. What he did expect was the guard to draw his laser pistol and was immediately gratified.

"Ando knows you can't beat him alone, your friends aren't here! Ando will kill you!!"

'Friends?' thought Shadow, genuinely confused for a second, then he realised that this guard must be referring to that missing gate team, which, of course, would be impossible for any other being to defeat alone. He then felt a surge of pride in his combat abilities because of this, allowing Ando time to bring his pistol to bear.  
"You'll die!" Shrieked the panicked guard, squeezing the trigger and receiving the zero charge beep.

One second later, Shadow walked away from the corpse of Aldo the guard, whose neck was twisted at a very unnatural angle. Shadow was glad to put that very strange encounter behind him, but he now knew better then to underestimate the guards here. Looking around Shadow saw a door which he then kicked to pieces. He then began his search for what he wanted.

*************

"Sir, the fortress is sealed!" Shouted one of the regiments scouts as the sky began to shift to orange.  
Damn, thought Charles, how did the rebels know we were coming? We still have ten miles until we reach the fortress, and now we need to waste valuable laser charge cutting down that gate! He turned to the sergeant and said "Well, time just became unimportant; we can afford to slow down." As the sergeant relayed his orders to the rest of the regiment, Charles turned to look at the still distant fortress frustration visible on his face.

Shadow instinctively steadied a toppling vase with his right arm and winced from the pain of his broken limb. The improvised wooden splint (which had spent a past life as a shed door) allowed him to use it, but he wasn't going to be able to fight with it any time soon.

If Shadow had been the type, he would have marvelled at the opulence of the keeps interior. Red carpet, expensive china-works and marble pillars (which were completely redundant in Shadows opinion) were all examples of considerable wealth.

And considerable egotism, He thought darkly, whoever this lord Danzen is he must believe that he has the right to assume dominion of his own kingdom. The hall had several doors leading out of it so Shadow chose one at random and found a relatively bland corridor.

Despite the increase in guard patrols and activity, Shadow had little trouble sneaking into the inner fort and ultimately the keep itself, his speed and agility providing an excellent means of avoiding detection.  
Shadow was troubled, because the keep had been devoid of guards so far, which meant either the missiles were kept elsewhere in the fortress or the personal guards of this Danzen character were all right on top of the weapons. Shadow went into a small closet and checked his chaos energy gauge. There was a surprising amount of charge there, a somewhat alarming detail.

Evidently fighting helps me charge my energy up even quicker. Shadow mused, both disconcerted and gratified by this revelation. Seeking for something to distract himself from this confusing issue, Shadow opened the closet and just in time to walk in on two guard in more contemporary equipment.

"It's one of the spies!" Cried the larger of the two guards, an orange striped tiger with yellow eyes and a muscular build.

Both of the guards responded quicker than Shadow expected, but he was still fast enough to dodge both their shots, pushing himself into the opposite wall, bracing himself with his right arm.

Or trying to, as the pain of the impact on his arm caused him to momentarily lose track of the strategy he had intuited when he first entered the corridor. Collapsing in pain against the wall, he could only look at the guards as the smaller of the two, a rat will brown fur took out a primitive communication device, while the tiger kept his gun trained on the black furred intruder.

"Milord, the spies have reached the castle, we have one in the-"The rat never finished his sentence, as just then Shadow sprang with blinding speed straight for the hapless rodents neck, using his left hand to slap away the communicator, while his right foot struck with enough strength to destroy the unfortunate guards head.  
Although the Tiger was initially surprised by the suddenness of Shadow's attack he managed to slam his fist into Shadow before the hedgehog could recover his bearings, winding Shadow and leaving him gasping for air. Time seemed to slow down for Shadow as the tiger brought his laser pistol to bear again, the fraction of an instant stretching out. The guard stopped moving altogether and Shadow sprang out of the lasers line of fire.  
Everything returned to normal and the tiger fired straight where Shadow had been a less than a second before. Shadow then kicked the tiger in the side of the chest, causing the guard to keel over allowing the black hedgehog to strike the back of his neck with enough force t break it.

Shadow paused for a few second, wondering how he had managed to dodge the laser, then glanced at his chaos gauge; the charge had depleted to 20%, more than a quarter of his previous charge had been used up in a few seconds. How? He wondered

*************

The report of intruders within the keep was, of course, inevitable, but Danzen hadn't expected the message to be cut off so quickly or so violently. So he waited in the control room beneath the keep, getting his personal guards into positions to defend it against the intruders. His grey fur was glossy, well groomed and his bushy tail a source of great pride. Not that this meant much in a fight, but his vanity was a significant part of his psyche.  
The Guards were almost ready when a black blur blasted into the room so fast that the guards stationed around the door were unable to fire fast enough. The thing moved so fast that no one could indentify it. Some of the guards panicked and began firing wildly hitting vital computer equipment and starting fires within the control room.

"Cease fire, you'll kill us all!" Roared Danzen, frantic that one misplaced shot would begin the detonation of his missile before launch. Half the guards were down from the black things attack, so none of the guards were exactly willing to cease fire. A few seconds later and the rest were down. Danzen had been hit with the tremendous force of that things impact, his form crumpling against the master control console for the warhead launchers.

Coughing blood, he looked up to see a solitary black furred hedgehog of no more than ten years of age. He (it was most definitely a he) had red highlights on his spines and limbs. The beginnings of what appeared to be white chest fur were starting to show. The most alarming trait, though, was the eyes, those blood red eyes which didn't have the battle rage of a soldier but pity of something far less.

It was the eyes of this demon that drove Danzen over the edge. How dare this brat look on the greatest warlord of this time with pity?! How dare he destroy his one chance at dominion?!  
He then gripped the master control console and reached for the detonation switch.

*************

Shadow didn't know what the Squirrel that was doing with the controls and didn't stop him when he pressed the switch on the console.

He then clutched his ears as the klaxons sounded deafening. Dimly, he heard the sound of a countdown and the squirrel shouting something as it tried to stagger to its feet. The squirrel that could only be lord Danzen had a look of madness in his brown eyes and was starting to advance on Shadow.

There's no way I can fight this lunatic and escape the blast. Shadow thought grimly as he leapt away from the crazed rodent.

Shadow then realised what he had to do, because if he couldn't then he wouldn't be able to escape the blast. Glancing briefly at his chaos gauge, he confirmed that it was at only twenty one percent, less than when he tried to use a chaos manipulation technique last time. This time he had to try as hard as he could; focusing as hard as he could on the far off human base, he directed all o his chaos energy into putting himself in that location.

Shadow felt the distortion of time and space and felt intense pain as his body was pulled slowly from one location to the next. Shadow hadn't expected this as the last time had simply been exhausting rather than agonising.

Unable to stand, Shadow collapsed to the ground, completely unsure of his present location as he slid into unconsciousness.

*************

"How the hell do we get those gates open?" Yelled one of the soldiers, a dark brown mouse, in disgust

"Why do you think these lasers are considered better weapons, boy?!" Retorted Sergeant Wilkinson "You could cut down the walls with these toys!"

"You're just kidding me now, sarge!" Replied the Mouse as e readied his rifle on the gates

"Make sure you set it to maximum power, kid!" Roared the older soldier

The mouse was about to adjust the settings on the laser when he heard a rumble beneath the ground. To his surprise Wilkinson grabbed him and pulled him behind the wall, yelling to the troops to do the same. A deafening explosion resounded behind the walls, smashing the gate outwards and crushing half the regiment. Sergeant Wilkinson and Sir Charles both got up and tried to drag the soldiers caught but still alive from the wreckage.

The mouse and the rest of the soldiers also pitched in and it was then that he saw what had happened inside the fortress.

Nothing remained except the outer walls, the inner walls were rubble and the buildings that had once been storage sheds, stables and houses were obliterated, leaving only burn marks behind. The mouse closed his blue eyes, shuddering to think what would have happened if the outer walls hadn't held.  
"Private Jenkins! Get back to work helping with the wounded!" Roared the sergeant  
"Yes sir! Just- the gates open now!" Jenkins replied


	8. Chapter 8: Debriefing

_Case Log: 07045  
Project Lead IR-46325 DR  
Progress Date: 2Y1M2W7D  
Subject Name: Shadow  
Recipient: GR-47636 DR_

Subject has remained unconscious for two weeks since it returned amid a massive burst of chaos energy. It can be theorised that it used its chaos power to teleport while still low on power, resulting in massive internal injuries (Full data in attached file no. 39364). The subject's inhibitor rings had been internally destroyed by the transition, however, so the older models have been attached to the subject to prevent its chaos radiation from causing harm.

Although its injuries healed in a few days, the subject had been in danger of expiring during this time period. Since it's healing its chaos energy reserves innately recharged at a higher rate than normal for two days, although why this is the case remains unknown.

The recording device that was hidden on its body remains intact, although some of its data has been corrupted. This data clearly shows the extent of his capabilities (which are as fully documented as possible in file no. 39365). Most remarkable was his ability to run at supersonic speeds without being torn apart by the speed and being still able to breathe despite the slipstream. Another remarkable physical trait is his resilience, which is way above normal for a life form of his size.

_  
The subject has entered a state of R.E.M. sleep for the past few days and will probably awaken within 24 hours. I recommend that the Xeno Psychological officer is present, since the subject bears an emotional attachment to her and will undoubtedly be more willing to relate the situation in her presence.  
End of Log.  
_

He saw light through his eyelids. For a moment he considered opening them but decided against it, since his last memory was of intense pain, he didn't want to wake up and return to deal with the problem: What happened?

"He's awake!" Reported a deep, familiar, voice, 'Doctor Robotnik' thought Shadow in frustration. He began procrastinating, subdividing time into smaller and smaller pieces in order to delay opening his eyes.

"Shadow, we know you're awake," came a lighter, also familiar voice, Maria's, "I wouldn't force you to wake up like this but we need to know what happened to you."

Shadow sighed, grudgingly opened his eyes and rose to sit on the cot. He was in a brightly lit room surrounded by medical equipment. He was wired into an intravenous system that was obviously designed to keep his body nourished, and his biological data was being displayed on a screen that was attended to by the voluminous Doctor Robotnik.

"Shadow, we need to know what happened." Maria insisted, interrupting Shadow analysis of his surroundings, causing him a scarcely noticeable frustration.

He continued to look around as he replied; "I completed the mission." Bluntly

Maria's face had an expression of amused tolerance at this "Yes, but why where you such a mess when you came back?"

"I used Chaos control while undercharged." Ivo turned around at this

"I thought so, but I had to have confirmation." He said, switching off the screen and detaching the I/V system from Shadow. He then turned from the room and began to leave, stopping at the door and turning to Maria.

"I'll leave his debriefing to you." He said with a cruel expression before leaving the room.

It had taken over half an hour to pry the major details of his mission out of Shadow, but Maria had finally been able to get the meat of the mission out of him. She was now taking Shadow directly to Gerald's office, so SHE could report what had happened.

"The Senior Scientist will see you now." The computer said as soon as they reached the anteroom.  
That's unusual, thought Maria, why is this report so important? She knew that the mission had been a success before Shadow had awoken, because reports of the detonation had filtered back to them through the satellites and, later, Jules. Compared to the fact that Shadow was alive and he succeeded in his mission, the exact details of how he did it were unimportant.

As Maria began to walk stride for the office door the computer piped up again "Maria Robotnik will await her interview."

"What?! Why?" Maria demanded in shocked disbelief "Why would Gerald wish to debrief him alone rather than with someone who has the details?"

The computer didn't reply, but then, it never did to questions relating to orders.

Shadow looked to Maria without expression then turned and walked through the doorway without saying anything.

"Excellent work, Shadow, you accomplished your mission with minimal casualties." Gerald proclaimed proudly, as he continued to gaze at the tactical display from the mission one month ago, he noted an expression of shame and anger on Shadows face as he too stared at the map.

"You're unhappy with the outcome?" Gerald directed his attention fully onto the young hedgehog before him.

"There were casualties, Gerald. None of the fortress defenders survived and a third of the royalists were killed in the explosion." Damn, thought Gerald, Maria Robotnik did too good a job; educating this child to value all life. Although Gerald did value life, he recognised that in order to protect it all you sometime had to make sacrifices.

"Shadow, those soldiers would have died other deaths if you hadn't intervened and as for the rebels, they had to die they knew too much." Gerald said slowly, "After all, if the king discovered the extent of your abilities he would immediately demand the surrender of your services to him. If that happens then you would be forced to use your abilities in his service, which doesn't help anyone in the long run." 'In the long run', Gerald thought bitterly, a wonderful little phrase that sells itself out to anyone with an appropriate IQ.

Shadow did not look convinced, but decided not to press the point, turning his head to look directly at the robot standing in the corner of the room. Gerald answered his question before he even asked it, eager to change the subject.

"Oh, that? That's a very old robot from here on the planet."

Shadow looked surprised, "But the Mobians are too primitive to have had robot until just recently."

"True, but the present Mobian races are not the first to emerge on Mobius nor has their kind been the most advanced this planet has ever seen."

"Somewhat like the legends of Atlantis on earth." The black hedgehog said with scepticism

"In this case the legends may have some basis in fact. Eons ago there was a race of echidna who far outdated the present culture, and would have been able to leave the planet by this time, but a catastrophe occurred involving the chaos emeralds and the continent where they had dominated vanished, causing the oceans to recede across Mobius and the great ocean of Echidnas to be formed."

"Still a little unbelievable that this is a relic from those times, if they even existed."

Gerald continued on excitedly "The robot is powered by chaos energy, not unlike you, but it could also be used to develop a new form of chaos energy battery." Shadow's expression of scepticism softened slightly but Gerald knew that he was only mildly interested in the concept.

"What were these robots called, anyway?"

"We don't know, this one was dredged out of the ocean a year ago and has been in storage ever since. I was only able to convince that king to let us have a look at it a week ago." Gerald remembered repeatedly having to nag the king in order to acquire, his expression souring slightly.

Shadow interrupted his reminisce, "Sorry, Professor, but I have nothing to talk about right now." Shadow turned and started for the door.

"Do you have any idea why you charged more rapidly in that mission?" Gerald asked suddenly as the door opened. Shadow paused for a second, clearly thinking it over. His ears drooped and rose, a clear sign that he didn't like the implications of what he was thinking.

"No, I don't." Shadow replied shortly. He then continued out of the room and the door hissed shut.  
Gerald waited a few second and then said "Computer, give me readouts on his chaos energy charge levels throughout the conversation." The computer complied and displayed the data on a holographic projection emitted from his desk, confirming the old man's suspicions. When he had goaded Shadow into an emotionally charged state his chaos charge increased more rapidly than normal.

"Well, Shadow, it seems that I do." These findings were both troubling and exhilarating. Clearly Shadow was destined for battle, despite his desires or Ivo's design.

"Send in Maria Robotnik, now."

The Oracle traversed the pathways of possibility gazing across time from the safety of his sanctum. He saw the conversation in the human leader's austere throne room, although he couldn't understand the meaning of the symbols on the humans air paper, he did understand the implications of his last comment to the young hedgehog.

Curious, the ancient creature shifted his vision back to last month, where he saw the guards of the rebel fortress fighting as best they could against such an obviously physically superior opponent. The hedgehog's most alarming trait wasn't his speed nor his chaos based powers, but the fact that the Oracle could only indirectly see him in the visions. It was like the hedgehog was a piece of glass in the rivers of fate, only visible by its reflection. Frustrated, the Oracle turned away from that particular path of destiny and searched along another, this time relating to the egomaniac Ivo Robotnik. His path was clearer, his flaws visible to the fabric of destiny. Robotnik was utterly devoted to the ideals of his own culture, with absolutely no respect for those of what he considered lesser cultures. He also had a vindictive streak that was perfect for the purposes of the Oracle.

He would have to time his actions carefully if he intended to prevent the hedgehog from intervening, but if he was skilful he would be able to turn that striped freak to his purposes.  
His plan began to take defined form, a plan that would allow him to kill the humans, remove Shadow and pave the way for his own people.

He then shifted his sight and observed the other pawns in his plan.

"Jules! Where are you going?" Jules turned and saw his brother running towards him. "None of your business!", Came the short reply. He had almost left the ducal mansion and was preparing to journey to Mobotropolis, via sky-car.

"You're going to see the princess again, aren't you?" Charles said with an accusing stare.

"If I was, it wouldn't be a matter for your concern."

"I'm saying it is." Charles retorted hotly. His expression was one of undisguised disgust, again causing Jules to wonder how much of his involvement in his siblings mission was known. Jules was certain that Charles didn't know the full detail of what had happened, but he was sure that his brother had tracked down the leak.  
"And you have a reason to be interested, Chuck?" Jules threw in this abbreviation to irritate his younger brother, as it always did. This time Charles surprised him.

"I do and you know it. I know you persuaded Aleena to tell you about the rebel stronghold and I can't believe you've actually started using an innocent princess like her."

Jules was both relieved and surprised. So that was what this is all about. Not about his informing the humans about the weapons but about his manipulation of Aleena. "It's not like she's not of marriageable age, and nothing has happened between us anyway."

"It's unconscionable to play on the affections of a young girl and you know it, Jules!" Charles was noticeably angry now. Jules often felt that his younger brother was overly bound by the concepts of honour and chivalry, not recognising the necessity of ugly politics. Besides he did admire Aleena, at least physically. Sometimes, dealing with her required a great deal of mental restraint, particularly in the face of some of her more blatantly obvious efforts for attention.

"My conscience is clean, Charles. I've done nothing wrong, and any information gained is fair play in politics."  
"Your obsession with your political games cost the lives of half my handpicked unit." Charles accused, furious with his brother.

"A claim you cannot prove, not ever, since I didn't kill them." Jules knew that Charles had no proof linking him to the incident a month ago. Charles reputation as a leader had been tarnished horribly because of it, despite the fact that his men had reported victory. The loss of half of an elite unit was a catastrophe, and Charles, who had been aware of the true purpose behind the mission, had borne much of the wrath of the king for his failure.

"Jules, I can't prove that, I know, but I can make sure that the princess remains unharmed throughout all this." The tone in Charles voice was now quiet yet very firm. "I'm coming with you and you aren't going to dally with all your other playmates at the palace."

There was no way Jules could have resisted, "Why, are you volunteering to entertain them in my place?" Jules said in an amused tone. Charles clearly hadn't been expecting this and looked completely shocked that Jules had even suggested this. Charles muzzle turned red with outrage and he was about to utter a thunderous reply to this when Jules cut him off by answering his original demand.

"Well, since you asked, my intentions for the princess are ultimately honourable. But, I don't think I want to make the final commitments until she reaches adulthood. As for the palace trip, feel welcome to hitch a ride, I know you love to ride in the sky-car, little brother." With that Jules turned and left the front door, leaving his pale furred brother standing speechless for a few seconds.

Charles swore at his brown furred sibling under his breath and followed him out into the courtyard with the waiting vehicle.


	9. Chapter 9: Betrayal

Six months until the rise of Robotnik's empire.

King Max sat in the throne room, staring at the note that his daughter had left him before her departure. His eyes blazed with fury at her decision, particularly since she had not deigned to consult with him beforehand. Even more frustrating was the fact that it had occurred so unexpectedly at a completely inconvenient time. His fur was now white with grey streaks at the base of his quills. Despite his obvious age he was still physically capable of fulfilling his role as the King of Mobius. Even so right now the vibrant colours of the throne room felt dull, a consequence of his daughter's actions.

"Your Majesty," The voice was devoid of either respect or contempt. "I have something to tell you."

"Why didn't you tell me about this Oracle?" Max broke his gaze from the note, a sudden feeling of disappointment raging through him. Of all the people who could have seen this coming, the Oracle could have known.

The Oracle gave him an apologetic look, "I didn't tell you because Jules marriage to her will ultimately create the greatest warriors on this planet." King Max's anger abated for a second but returned with a vengeance. His now plain grey fur bristled causing a few white hairs to be shed.

"Oracle, what right do you have to make these decisions for MY kingdom." The Oracle flinched the volume of the outburst, "It was MY might that made it, MY vision that realised it and-"  
"And," Interjected the Oracle coldly, "it was my advice that informed you that it was your destiny to rule!" Max knew that the Oracle could have said more but refrained from it. He knew all the Oracle had done was in his best interests throughout his life, but recently he had taken a blasé approach to protecting him. He started again, somewhat more collected, determined to maintain at least a façade of politeness; after all, he needed the Oracle and he was one of the few members of the council that could be trusted.

"I may be old, Oracle, but I can still plan ahead of things and I still need to be kept informed of things before they happen. What's the point of having an Oracle that doesn't tell the future?"

"Which is exactly why I've come, Your Majesty," The Oracle replied smoothly. "I came as soon as I saw it." Max gritted his teeth. An annoying trait the Oracle sometimes exhibited was the desire to milk a moment for all it was worth.

"Look, we're alone, can you dispense with the theatrics. It is as the humans have so often said, 'un-cool'." Max said shaking his head and causing his quills to fall into disarray. The Oracle looked disappointed and carried on;

"I've discovered that the Shadow creature will assassinate the royal family in the future." The ancient creature stated gravely. "This will be the precursor to a human's domination of Mobius."

"What? But, why?! What do the humans stand to gain?" King Maximillian replied, aghast. Gerald would never sanction such tactics; he is too pacifistic to even consider that. Max was certain there was something else. After all, there were other worlds uninhabited by sentients; he had heard Gerald speak of them more than once.

"Nothing! As far as I can tell." Came the Oracles reply. "The event happens in the future, but it may be safest to kill him and avert the danger." With that the strange creature disappeared, his projection fading from view.  
Max paused, worrying about breaking his alliance with the humans. Although the Mobians had gained an understanding of the basic technologies humans had introduced, they still lacked many production facilities that could produce the weapons that the humans had developed. Still, with surprise his people could gain access to the wealth of advanced technology that the humans possessed. Once that occurred then it didn't matter if they retaliated, because, even though they tended to be twice the height of his people, they would never be able to look down on them again. Removing the humans would also weaken that arrogant upstart Jules Hedgehog, so it was a triple bonus, securing his bloodline, empire and humiliating a political rival.

Max rose to give his elder son Auron his orders.

Half an hour later

Auron paced past on the deck of the transport, some of the other soldiers looking up. Lieutenant Arcus didn't look at him. He had other things to think about than the ego of the heir apparent. He was standing next to his unit, most of who were sitting on a bench along the wall of the sky ship. He looked at Sergeant Wilkinson, who nodded his encouragement. The sergeant was a no questions asked kind of soldier, who would have been at a high ranking soldier were it not for his peasant heritage. Even a young lieutenant like Arcus had to recognise the skills and experience of the old cat.

Next to Wilkinson was the Grand Duke Taur, who had volunteered to assist in the attack. Arcus knew only that Taur despised humans for the death of his nephew back when they first arrived, and he hadn't expected Taur to sit next to Wilkinson without any trace of self consciousness. Taur notice his staring and raised an eyebrow.

"Something bothering you, Lieutenant?" The dark grey bull asked with the faintest hint of a challenge. Even sitting, Taur was nearly as tall as Arcus, who was standing less than a foot away. Arcus gulped and shook his head, not eager to get on the bad side of this particular member of higher nobility, his own golden back fur bristling beneath his uniform. He directed his gaze to the rest of his unit, the third regiment of the royal guard. He had gained temporary command because his captain, Sir Charles, had been kept out of this mission because of its sensitive nature. Arcus had protested that Charles was much more experienced at missions, but had been overrode by Charles himself, so he obeyed orders as his captain said.

His thinking about this got his wondering about the implications of the mission they were about to undertake. They were to enter the human base and kill all the inhabitants, while the few humans off base would be hunted down and killed quietly by the king's spies. He felt bitter that his own liege was stooping to genocide, particularly with explaining why, but was too afraid to speak out against it in case he was named a traitor for his opposition. Many of the soldiers who didn't stand to gain were reluctant, aside from those who despised the arrogant aliens with all their souls.

"Three minutes to landfall!" The pilot's voice interrupted Arcus thoughts, surprising him. In the year that the royal guard had these machines in abundance, Arcus still had yet to get used to the sheer speed of their travel.

"You heard the pilot, get ready to move out." Arcus roared to his troops. Some responded immediately, to them it was just another job, but the rest were reluctant to engage in the battle. It seemed easy that the 3rd and 5th royal guard regiments would have an easy time dealing with merely 70 humans, after all they outnumbered them two to one. But with humans things could get very complicated, quickly.

"Remember, we shoot to kill, Lieutenant!" Called Taur, his massive teeth bared. Arcus shuddered at the barbarism of the older Mobian. Arcus was too young to have participated in the initial rise of Maximilian's kingdom. He had never committed many of the atrocities that the Grand Duke was rumoured to have done during his service.

The transport landed clumsily on the pad outside the human base, casting most of the soldiers to the floor. Arcus managed to barely maintain his balance from the jarring impact and was able to start moving immediately after the hatches at the side and rear of the transport opened.  
As Arcus leapt out of the transport he noticed the sterile white colour that humans were known to be fond of. The outside of the humans home completely the same all over, with no visible signs that it had ever been a ship before.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Arcus spun around to see the old human leader, the famous Gerald, striding towards them apparently unarmed. He noticed that there were hardly any other humans outside, with only a few other Mobians that had managed to extricate themselves from the transport.  
Arcus barely felt his finger tighten on the trigger of his laser rifle, so he was shocked when the red beam of light burnt through the grey haired human and continued to cut even as the old man fell, causing hideous damage. Arcus released the trigger and stared at the remains of the being that had done more than any other of his race to bring Mobius out of the dark ages.

"Excellent work, Lieutenant." Came the confident voice of the Grand Duke behind him, Arcus looked around at the progress of the battle and saw that the royal guards were cleaning up the last of the humans that weren't still in the base.

"I want a heavy laser cannon team to cut though those doors, now. We must make sure that they don't have time to prepare for us inside." Roared Taur, taking the lead. The bull's face was contorted with hatred, his ears pressed back against his head and his fur bristling where it could be seen. "Perhaps now we'll be able to use the knowledge of mankind to achieve our own empire in the stars."

Arcus looked back at the corpse of Gerald, and felt that things were only going to get worse from now on.

Ivo hammered the computers keyboard with his enormous fingers, ecstatic. He knew as soon as the first tests came back but he had to be positive and it was important that the results weren't just a result of unknown variables. The lab still had the birthing tubes that had first created Shadow, although these were inactive. The other equipment, however, was all aglow with activity as he pushed the limits of the computers to perform the most thorough genetic scans that could be done.

Both his cousin and Shadow were looking at him, he could feel their gaze. He imagined Maria had a concerned expression, while he knew Shadow would simply have the same careful, attentive stare he always used to unnerve those around him. Ivo ignored them as he looked at the screen that would display the results. The system had almost completed analysis.

The sweat of excitement poured of Ivo Robotnik's bald head as the readings were displayed, soaking into his auburn handlebar moustache. He applied a handkerchief, but this was a like throwing a candle in the ocean in the hopes of evaporation. He checked the results, once, twice and a third time. There was no doubt.

"Hah! I was right!" Ivo whirled his massive bulk, almost crashing his belly into the pair behind him. Both Shadow and Maria were looked slightly startled by the volume of his triumphant cry. He continued on; "It really worked, Shadow! I'm brilliant!"

Maria, looking pleased managed to keep a somewhat calmer tone, "So he's functionally immortal, then?"

"No doubt, look." Ivo leapt aside to show them the control panels. "Of course you'll have to take it on faith that I know what I'm talking about." He said, remembering that Maria simply didn't have anywhere near the level of understanding of genetics to know if he was correct or not.

"So, I'm going to live forever." Said Shadow without a trace of emotion, the calmness in his voice bringing Ivo down from his triumphant joy. Shadow had a slightly sick expression on his face as though he didn't see the magnificence of Ivo's achievement. The young hedgehogs aging had ground to a halt in spite of the growth drugs he had been given throughout his short life, giving him the appearance of a fourteen year old hedgehog. Ivo was both alarmed and thrilled by the levels of power the hedgehog exhibited whenever he was motivated to do so. Shadow had become reticent after he found out about the growth drugs, and more so as his aging began to slow down in spite of them.

"Barring accident, yes, you will outlast everyone." Ivo said, hoping to point out the important issue, that HE had succeeded in creating an immortal life form.

"Everyone I know will die." Shadow concluded his ears drooping, apparently sad that he never had to worry about growing old. His response confused Ivo, who personally found the idea of watching his enemies slowly age and die to be a satisfying concept. As Robotnik was about to respond his thoughts were interrupted by the emergency alarms.

"ALERT- Hostiles have penetrated through the ships docking airlocks –ALERT!" The message repeated, finally reminding Ivo that he should have altered the ships emergency alarm sequence four years ago, after the ship had become a research base.

"What?! Ivo, is this a drill?" Maria yelled over the alarm, bringing Ivo back to the present. He turned to Maria and shook his head, then headed over to the computer and activated total computer memory deletion, the standard procedure in the event of an attack.

"We need to get out, and I need to get to the main archives in the core." He didn't need to tell Maria or Shadow that the ships information couldn't fall into the hands of their mystery assailants. Shadow had already opened the door and stood waiting by the door. The Black hedgehogs ears were now perked up and the hedgehog looked alert keeping his gaze on the empty (for now) corridor outside.

"Shadow, you go and run for exit hatch E-6, Maria will go with you and make sure you're safe." The hedgehog nodded, apparently understanding the need to obey orders rather than recklessly endanger himself. Both Maria and Shadow ran out into the corridor and headed right, the most direct course away from the docking pad. That is one of the virtues of Shadow; Robotnik thought gladly, he never disobeyed orders without good reasons, even if he didn't explain afterwards. The reasons for his disobediences became apparent later, however, and he tended to be right.

Robotnik then went down the corridor to the left, towards the archives and the fighting. Whoever was attacking was probably trying to get to the knowledge of the most advanced species in this sector of the galaxy. He ran at an impressive pace, pausing only briefly to raid one of the emergency armouries on his way to the archives. He was now equipped with two fragmentation grenades and a plasma pistol.

He stopped as he saw who was attacking, however. It was Mobians, royal guard, no less. Five soldiers in the crossroads pointing their weapons down the corridor going left and firing wildly.

Robotnik felt a massive surge of anger bubbling up within his as he aimed and fired all in one motion, incinerating two with his plasma pistol before the others noticed him. As they turned and began to fire Ivo flung himself to the side, his bulk accidently smashing through the door to his left. He was on his feet instantly, priming a grenade as he went back to the door, lobbing it in the direction of the soldiers and taking cover. He was rewarded with an explosion and the screams of the soldiers.

As Ivo strode out he checked the remains for any useable equipment, and he was disappointed to find one of the Mobian soldiers still alive, although crippled and disarmed. The cat looked up at Ivo, reaching out an arm, either to attempt to stop him or as a silent plea for mercy Robotnik didn't know, he was too furious by their betrayal to care. The creature couldn't cry out, his lungs had been pierced in too many places and there was no way he would survive, but he didn't deserve to die painlessly.

Ivo placed his foot gently on the grey cats head and began to gradually lean his weight on the Mobians skull, keeping a watchful eye out for any other soldiers. The cat clutched at the massive foot, but to no avail, gradually Ivo's weight causing the royal guards skull to crumple in. Hopefully, Ivo thought vindictively, that hurt a lot!

"Find them before they escape!" Shadow heard the cry from the hiding place both he and Maria occupied. As they heard the footfalls thunder into the distance, Maria opened the door a crack and checked to make sure they weren't being followed. She nodded to Shadow and led the way down the corridor. They were just a couple of bulkheads away from one of the airlocks, a few more minutes and they could easily escape.  
"There they are! Two of ...What is that?" A Mobian soldier was looking directly at Shadow with a shocked expression. Shadow knew that black furred Mobians were rare, and no other mobian creature had the red streaks like he did. It didn't take the Soldier long to recover and open fire, but Maria and Shadow hadn't broken their run, taking a right turn towards the E-7 exit hatch instead. The Soldiers gave chase, and Shadow turned to glimpse the leader of the soldiers, recognising the purple fur and brown eyes of Auron, first born of Max.

Shadow didn't have time to ponder as Maria yanked him left towards the airlock. The ship had been designed with a very thick hull, so Shadow broke free of Maria's grasp and opened the airlock for her. He then hopped through the door stood ready to close the door.

Maria screamed "Close it!" as she got through the airlock inner door, Shadow immediately complying.

As the door slid shut a laser bolt seared through Maria's back and out her chest. Suddenly the world seemed to stop for a few seconds as the door continued to close, its heat resistant form blocking off the laser before Maria could fall. He watched as she began to fall seemingly in slow motion, more than enough time for him to catch her.

Shadow shook his head disbelievingly as he cradled her head in his knees, watched as the life died in her eyes, felt it as her emotions faded from his ability to detect. He felt his world end as Maria was no more and the inner airlock hatch began to heat from continuous laser fire.


	10. Chapter 10: Vengeance

Corporal Jenkins kept his laser at full power with the rest of the squad. The airlock door was already white hot and beginning to break under the repeated laser heating and application of liquid nitrogen. Ironic that the ideas that the humans had taught them could be turned so easily against their masters, at least that's what Jenkins was thinking.

"Lasers, cease fire! Fire extinguishers, loose!" Came the voice of Auron. The purple hedgehog seemed obsessed with getting through the airlock, but they had killed the human, and one mobian was hardly a threat, even if he looked a little weird. The fire extinguishers finally ran out half way through Jenkins musings but the door looked like it would crumble under the first impact. The prince stepped forward and kicked in the broken hatch, showering the occupants of the airlock with metal fragments.  
Jenkins was surprised to see the black furred hedgehog cradling the dead humans head with his back turned to the royal guards. He didn't know that many Mobians who regarded human lives as worth valuing, aside from Jules and his normal commanding officer Charles. The purple furred prince stepped into the airlock and pulled out his sword, but the sound got no reaction from the young adult hedgehog kneeling with his back turned.  
All the soldiers felt Auron's ire at being, apparently, treated with contempt, raising his sword ready to slay the black hedgehog even from behind. The sword sliced down but at the last second the younger hedgehog blurred and Auron's forearm exploded in a rain of blood and bone fragments, his sword flying into the wall and stabbing into it.

Jenkins was too shocked to fire as Auron looked down at his ruined arm and emitted a strangled cry. The black demon (no Mobian could have moved so fast) was standing with one of its arms covered in gore, first staring hatefully at the prince before turning its attention to soldiers. Its expression seemed to fill with rage and Jenkins, along with the rest of the now terrified soldiers opened fire to no effect it seemed as the hedgehog's red stripes seemed to glow. Some of the soldiers at the back tried to run, but Jenkins knew there was no escape; nothing could escape a demon like this. The black hedgehog was completely glowing; a bloody red colour suffused its entire form, hung there for a few seconds, then blasted out. That red glow was the last thing either Jenkins or any of the rest of the soldiers within the immediate area ever knew.

"We've been over this, just take the hard drives, and don't worry about downloading them now!" Robotnik heard the call through the archive door. Still incensed by the Mobians betrayal, Ivo charged at the metal door and smashed it down, crushing two luckless soldiers who were meant to insure no one interfered with their theft. The various soldiers within the archives stared at the voluminous human, some of them shocked to the point where they didn't drop their spoils. These few were quickly dispatched by Ivo's plasma pistol, while the rest either dived for cover or tried to get their weapons ready.

By the time they had returned fire the bulky human was already in cover himself, moving throughout the aisles of databases. He knew he had the home ground advantage and, despite his tremendous bulk, moved with a grace that surpassed many of the Mobian soldiers. Robotnik knew that the ceilings were reflective, and he felt satisfied when he sky gazing was rewarded with the opportunity to kill another of the soldiers within the archives.

The soldier gave a shocked cry when a hand the size of his head crashed through the data crystals between him and the other aisle, grabbing his neck and crushing it before he could put anything more articulate into his voice.

Of course, some of the others will come running to investigate the scream. Thought Ivo, his mind salivating in anticipation.

Seven soldiers came, more than he had thought, but the more the merrier in his mind. These soldiers were alert though, covering each other's movements, leaving no openings for direct fire. But they were on the lookout for the bulky human who had already left the immediate surroundings, so they missed the string located a few feet away from the mortally wounded royal guard. Two of the guards heard the snap and looked around spooked, but didn't see anything. Then the fragmentation grenade went off, the crystals providing additional shrapnel which killed the stricken soldier and five of the soldiers who came to help him. The two who had been further out were merely wounded, but their howls of pain, along with the explosion, attracted the rest of the soldiers, buying Robotnik enough time to reach the control console at the back of the room.

Ivo felt a swell of contempt for the Mobians; they hadn't even been able to discover which consoles were important, thinking the critical ones were in the centre rather than the back.  
Perhaps an insight into their psychology? He wondered idly as he set the destruct sequence on the archive, the important things being obvious rather than safely concealed. The computer asked for confirmation, which the doctor gave without hesitation, dooming the archive and any within to a slow radiation induced death in five minutes.

He saw a reflection in the screen and dodged aside as a laser burned into the screen, satisfied that nothing could stop the sequence he shifted his bulky form down an aisle and left the room, only pausing briefly to pick up a laser rifle on his way out.

The Mobians didn't hear as he shifted the door off the ground and wedged it back into place, using the laser rifle to weld the door shut. He then ran as swiftly as he could for an exit hatch.

Shadow's mind was aflame even as he ran. He couldn't think of anything except Maria's death, he replayed it over and over in his mind. Each time he relived it his fury intensified, both at himself for closing the door too late and the royal family for betraying her. His speed picked up every time he thought about it and since he though very quickly he was rapidly approaching the sound barrier. The grassy plains that surrounded the base were already giving way to lowland scrub. The change in terrain brought Shadow out of his guilt and grief, making him question his destination.

Where AM I going? He wondered; he hadn't really decided, his emotions demanding simply that he run. Now that he thought about it, however, he couldn't simply run anywhere!

No! He realised there was somewhere he could go to even the score. He turned and ran full pelt towards a nearby forest. He quickly accelerated and ran through it, deftly weaving past the trees while gathering enough speed to generate a powerful slipstream. As he broke the sound barrier the trees he blasted past were literally picked up by the forces of his passing, creating a maelstrom of destruction behind him.  
Needless to say he cleared the forest quickly and passed into the farmlands surrounding Mobotropolis. He pushed his speed even harder, pushing past the 900 mph mark, any objects near to his path being drawn into his slipstream.

The citizens of Mobotropolis never knew what happened to them as they were unexpectedly sucked in the vengeful hedgehogs wake, their homes and bodies torn apart by the forces of his attack. He noticed the wall protecting the palace grounds, but didn't slow until he reached the wall itself. Turning to his left he used his chaos energy reserves to teleport past the wall, and then burst into a high speed run until he was able to take cover within an entrance into the palace itself, just in time to avoid the wave of destruction slamming into the walls.

The seven foot thick walls cracked under the initial impacts, lasting a fraction of a second until the debris smashed the fortified walls down completely. Although the palace itself remained intact, anything smaller or made of less resilient materials was completely destroyed. The palace ground on the west side resembled a wasteland, every large object covered in a thin red paint that, under closer analysis, were the remains of Mobians caught within the slipstream.

Shadow didn't have time to check on the carnage he caused, though, as several squads of royal guards hurried out of the palace. Confusion was evident on the black hedgehog's features and one of the guards noticed. This mobian had a kind look on his face and walked over to Shadow, who tensed up ready to fight off any attack.

"Don't worry kid, we don't know what caused this attack but we'll find out who's behind this and deal with them." Shadow felt the soldier's words intensify his rage, how could he believe his culture even had the right to defend itself?

"No you won't!" He said as he checked to make sure the rest of the guards were now outside, insuring he wouldn't have to fight them yet.

"Sure we wi-hrrrk!" The guard didn't even get the chance to scream as Shadow moved with blinding speed, crushing the poor Mobian's neck before he could finish the sentence. He was rewarded with a satisfying cracking noise, after which he discarded the remains of the guard with that familiar empty feeling.

He weighed his options carefully; Shadow knew he had to move quickly before the royal family was able to escape, but he decided against using chaos energy to track them down, after all, expanding the slipstream effect and teleporting had been taxing, nearly exhausting him completely. This left Shadow with two choices: Either he attempted to get the chaos emerald from the vault somewhere within the fortress, or he attacked now with his physical speed and strength.

Lieutenant Arcus fired his laser rifle, slaying the last of the humans before him. He glanced at Taur, noticing the bull's expression of satisfaction. When Taur returned his stare Arcus looked away down the hall, which was fortuitous as he saw a humungous human with a ridiculous orange handlebar moustache arrive junction behind the squad. Arcus dodged aside as the human snapped off a bolt of light from his unusual weapon causing one of his soldiers to be incinerated by the energy. The grand duke roared a challenge, but the human only laughed insultingly as he took the left route down the corridor. Taur was too pissed to even howl an order and he simply chased before anyone could react.

The golden furred lieutenant was just as incensed by this fat fools cowardice as Taur, however, roaring the order to pursue the obese human. Taur turned the corner well before the rest of the squad, running faster than Arcus had believed he could. The squad broke into a sprint and turned the corner to see Taur discarding his weapon in favour of running full pelt in order to catch the bulky humanoid.

"ROBOTNIK!" Taur roared, flecks of foam escaping his wide open mouth. This must have been the human's name since he slowed and turned to face the Grand Duke, half crouching with his arms spread wide to meet the massive bull. It wasn't until Taur reached the human that Arcus realised just how massive this one was. Yes all humans were normally taller than Mobians but this one was as tall as the bull and twice as wide. Its mechanical eyes were jet black aside from its red pupils, and a look of disdain was etched on its face.

Grand Duke Taur opened with a powerful looking straight punch, but was unable to find his mark. Arcus and the rest of the squad gasped at the startling speed of this creature. Surely something so massive couldn't move so fast.

But the one called Robotnik did, catching Taur second punch in his own massive hand, pulling the bull into his waiting fist. Taur staggered back, and the royal guards were too shocked to fire their weapons while the human was open. The bulky human leapt at Taur both arms raised for attack, but Taur, recovering quickly, got under Robotnik's guard and smashed the human in the chest, winding the human. Even this didn't stop the human, but his expression did shift from his previous contempt to one of fury as he grabbed head of the gigantic Mobian.

Taur tried to wrap his arms around the bulk of the enraged doctor but was unable to reach full around, leaving Ivo enough time to smash the stubborn bulls head into the wall with enough force to render the Grand Duke unconscious. Arcus was shocked, he hadn't thought anyone could even last a so long in a fight against the seven foot tall Mobian, much less defeat him. His disappointment was bitter as he gazed at the fallen Grand Duke. He then looked at the human, who was drawing his pistol from his lab coat then looked to his own laser rifle preparing to fire.

Robotnik evidently had other plans, because he fired an overcharged shot into the unconscious form of Taur, mercilessly killing him and filling the air in front of him with superheated vapours. The squad's laser bolts dissipated harmlessly in the steam and the soldiers heard the thunderous footfalls of the retreating human. Arcus wasn't going to let this infuriating human escape, however, and sprinted behind him, running straight into the still heated gasses.

Arcus had never known such pain before in his life and had to press on, just getting through the boiling vapour. When he emerged from the vapour with his golden fur singed all over and his skin beneath already blistering he saw the human running down the corridor.

The golden furred Mobian sprinted after him, ignoring the screams of the royal guards who had also given chase and were engulfed by the burning air between them and their quarry. Arcus raised his rifle and pulled the trigger, only to hear the buzzing noise of a weapons malfunction. The human stopped running as Arcus looked down at his weapon to see the rifles energy cells had ruptured, leaking the toxic battery fluids onto the floor. The lieutenant hastily discarded the now useless weapon and carried on charging, only to see the hulking human bearing down on him. Arcus felt the first punch before he saw it, and felt like the right side of his head had exploded. Then he felt his neck in the grip of a massive hand, which lifted the semi conscious Mobian up to until it was eye to eye with the humans face. Saw through his good eye the human draw him in close, baring its teeth beneath its orange moustache. Arcus flailed with his fists and was rewarded with a cracking noise when he got the ugly humans nose. Ivo raised his free hand to his bleeding nose and confirmed that it was indeed broken. The look of anger turned to one of chilling resolve, and a growl emerged from the humans throat as the pressure on Arcus own neck intensified steadily. Black spots began to gather at the edges of his vision as the blood flow to his brain was restricted.

Arcus panicked as the pressure increased and he looked around desperately for any way to stop the human from killing him. His flailing hand hit something and the bulk head door began to close, eventually closing down on the human, who pulled back quickly but not fast enough to avoid the arm gripping Arcus from being lost.

Arcus, however, didn't get to savour his survival as he lost consciousness just before the bulkhead sealed. Before the darkness consumed him the image of Robotnik's face was imprinted on his mind. Those black eyes that promised a terrible vengeance, eyes that would haunt the lieutenant for the rest of his life.

"Sir? Lieutenant? What happened? Where's that fat freak?" Arcus heard a voice as he struggled back into the world again. Arcus felt ashamed and stood up as quickly as he could. He was still thinking about the face of Robotnik, and how its surreal appearance looked. Amazing, how it was much more threatening up close.

"He escaped, the one called Robotnik, he got away." Arcus replied sadly. He glanced down at the severed limb of the human. He felt slightly sickened looking at it, but the hand that nearly killed him lay there motionless.

"Well, I don't think we're going to get him now, he's probably long gone." Said the soldier, indicating the human digital clock. He then glanced around and saw the remainder of his squad, several of them sporting burns and singed fur like himself. Something was wrong, his field vision was in a much narrower than before, then he raised his hand to the right side of his head and realised what was wrong.

"Yeah, sir, I don't think that's gonna ever get better. On the bright side, what harm can a fat one armed human do now?" The soldier's idiotic statement irked the lieutenant, but Arcus had to concede he had a point. What could this Robotnik do, after all, with only one arm he wasn't nearly as effective in a fight.

Perhaps this was the end of it.

*************

The corridors and rooms blurred by as Shadow ran through palace, bouncing off the walls to retain his speed. The guards in his way were easily left behind or, if they happened to have the bad luck to be standing in his way, destroyed. The rage that had consumed him immediately after Maria's death had cooled and hardened into an unbreakable hatred of King Maximilian and his spawn, driving him onwards.

He had a fair idea of where the throne room was, but he had checked along the way just to be sure. Shadow was surprised and just a little bit worried by the lack of opposition. They can't have all gone to defend the breach, because it shouldn't be that massive, thought the apprehensive hedgehog. Tired as he was, he wouldn't be able to fight a full regiment of royal guards all at once.

Doesn't matter, the king had my home destroyed, he thought as his resolve returned, and anyone who tries to stop me from getting vengeance will be destroyed in turn!  
With that thought Shadow proceeded as directly as possible to the throne room only to be greeted by three squads of soldiers in the antechamber of the throne room. The antechamber was large, circular, and its walls encrusted by expensive looking paintings. The guards had overturned chairs and desks in order to create cover for themselves, making it difficult for Shadow to attack without slowing down. As he had taken in the situation the soldiers had noticed him, however, and trained their weapons on him. He leapt to the right hand side of the room as they fired, but could find a safe opening there either, so leapt for the throne room doors in the hopes of kicking them down.  
This hope led to immediate disappointment, however, so Shadow leapt to the left side of the room before the troops even got the chance to aim this time.

That doors got to be reinforced, thought Shadow as he continued leaping around the walls, then noticed that as he circuited the room progressively faster, small ornaments and debris was being picked up by the air current he was generating. The idea sprang into his head as he began to run on the walls of the room faster and faster, relying on centrifugal forces to keep his body from falling while running. Within seconds the soldiers had given up even aiming and were totally focused on keeping themselves under cover from the flying furniture and other debris gathered up within the chamber.

"Now!" Said Shadow as he began to opportunistically attack guards. While still increasing the whirlwind, a kick here and a spin dash there was all he needed to drive the guard's numbers and cover down to the point where he could leave the whirlwind and focus enough strength into a spin dash in order to break down the door.  
The rapidly dissipating whirlwind gave him just enough time to charge up, the surviving guards didn't have the chance to retrieve their weapons before the black hedgehog blasted through the door. Shadow took a fraction of a second to recover from the spin attack, before leaping out of the way of hundreds of laser bolts. The air which he had occupied flared brilliant red, turning the granite floor of the throne room into a glassy rock.

Funny, this place would have been much prettier if they'd made the entire palace like that. The hedgehog thought in a detached way. He then glanced around from the pillar he was hiding behind and felt his rage intensify as he saw the form of the king Maximilian. The ancient hedgehog was still seated at his throne, something that enraged Shadow beyond measure. The thought that the black hedgehogs vengeance was something not even worthy of standing for infuriated him beyond any means of reckoning.

He simply leapt at the filthy white hedgehog, ramming his fist into the side of the treacherous ruler of Mobius with sufficient force and speed to obliterate the bones of the helpless monarch. Shadows speed carried him beyond the line of fire and into another hiding place.

Suddenly Shadow heard the cry "Father!" a male voice, Alio, couldn't be anyone else! The bitter hedgehog thought. Then he heard the same voice again;

"Shadow! I know you're here, show yourself and face ME!" The voice sounded both grieved and angry.  
Shadow was tempted to wait longer just to push the prince into a state of rage but decided to come out. Leapt onto and then off of the wall opposite he attempted to land directly on top of the source of the sound. He had miscalculated, but landed directly in front of the purple furred hedgehog prince, roughly in the centre of the massive throne room. The prince looked startled by the suddenness of the ultimate life forms appearance.

Despite his armour, Alio was relatively free to move, his arms, legs and head free of any ablative plating. This one will prove no challenge, thought Shadow as he consciously shifted his expression into one of amusement.

The purple hedgehog gathered himself, his pain at his father's death renewing itself in his expression. "So, you at least have the courage to face me like a warrior." Shadow felt a genuine spark of amusement at the implication of his cowardice.

"Frankly, it's beneath me to kill you directly, too. But your tone wrenched my heart greatly enough that I give you this honour." Shadow said the last part with a contemptuous twist, and was rewarded with an immediate expression of rage from the prince. While the conversation was going on the black hedgehog surreptitiously checked the soldiers around him.

"You dare to come here, kill my father in such a cowardly fashion and then claim it's an honour to fight you?!" The hedgehog prince demanded incredulously.  
The two hedgehogs were surrounded by royal guards, all of whom looked as though they would attack at any moment. Careful not to give away his actions he checked his chaos energy gauge, while keeping up the conversation.

"Of course, such a helpless creature is no match for the ultimate life form in direct confrontation."

Shadows taunts were having the desired effect, intensifying the emotions of those around him, drastically increasing the amount of ambient emotions that he converted to chaos energy. He decided to stop taunting his opponent and return the challenge.

"Are we going to trade taunts and insults all evening or am I finally going to be able to kill you?" Asked Shadow in his most offensive tone.

The challenge was what Alio had been waiting for and he drew his sword in a flash, "Take up your weapon then, no one can match my skills with a blade." Shadow waited until the sharp edge of the sword very nearly touched him before using his superior speed to get directly behind the purple furred hedgehog.

"Perhaps, I simply don't care!" Shadow said in a bored tone as he pushed the prince off balance and waited for him to recover. A part of him wanted to avenge Maria as quickly as possible, but he decided that the prince should at least suffer humiliation for his part in the destruction of the humans.

The prince, however, recovered more quickly than Shadow had expected and swung his sword around very nearly beheading the dark hedgehog. At the last instant he ducked and kicked one of Alio's legs out from under him, causing the prince to stagger and slip to his knees.  
Shadow leapt back and glared into Alio's brown eyes with his red ones. The mundane hedgehog had surprised him and Shadow resolved not to underestimate his opponent so readily.

Not that he's anywhere near my equal, but he's better than I expected. Shadow reassured himself, trying to heal his slightly wounded pride, the only thing that was damaged.  
The Mobians, of course, don't know that my pride has been damaged. Shadow thought as he slid past an attack from Alio and shoved his flat hand into the Mobian's chest, cracking a couple of ribs. The prince coughed wetly as he staggered back, but evidently the injury wasn't incapacitating, much to Shadow's bored disappointment. Shadow glanced briefly at his chaos energy gauge, checking that it was at the charge level was what he needed, then looked up to see Alio charging in for another attack.

The attack was never finished as Shadow deliberately released his chaos energy in a blast of reality warping power, causing the royal guards who had been crowding around the fight to disintegrate. The blast just fell short of the throne and its dead occupant.

Shadow was exhausted, but not disabled. He staggered wearily over to the fallen king, and looked him over. Ironic that the murderer of Shadow's loved ones should look so peaceful in death. Life it seemed was full of that. The black hedgehog noticed a crumple piece of paper gripped in the king's hand.

His curiosity piqued, Shadow pried the dead fingers off the note and read it.  
"So, Princess Aleena is getting married to Jules, and is carrying his three children, about three months gone." He thought out loud.

He briefly considered letting the princess live, as she was pregnant, but he discarded this idea as his thoughts shifted back to Maria. As he set out for the emerald hill region, he idly wondered why it was that battle and murder helped him to forget his pain. He began to question who he was again, something he hadn't done since his first mission a few years ago.


	11. Chapter 11: Endings and Beginnings

It was hard, maintaining an astral projection this close to the emerald hills. Their nature based magic weakened the more chaotic magic of sorcerers, a trait which currently frustrated the Oracle. Circumstances had forced him to use an unfamiliar field of magic to be in the necessary place to fulfil his plan and ensure the creation of some very important children. Unfortunately, the means he had used resulted in a crazed super hedgehog now heading faster than he could have ever expected.

This striped freak simply had to die if the children he wished born were to survive. He sent out several time based magic spells to detect the approach of this Shadow creature and was surprised to find he was almost on top of his projection. The Oracle raised an impenetrable magical barrier with the speed of thought, the black creature smashing into it at supersonic speed.

The hedgehog bounced off the barrier and landed hundreds of yards away from the wall. Even at this distance and with only ethereal eyes the Oracle saw the demon rise with a look of incandescent fury on his bloody face. He only paused briefly to reset his nose and one of his arms, then ran just up next to the barrier and looked directly at the Oracle through it.

"You shall not pass!" The Oracle called, his voice echoing, despite the open surroundings. The creature called Shadow simply smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes; glanced at one of his rings and looked again at the magical being before him.  
His stripes suddenly glowed red, before shouting loudly "CHAOS BLAST!" and a massive burst of chaos energy seared through the barrier as though it wasn't even there.

This surprised the Oracle, who hadn't expected such a dramatic attack from raw chaos energy. Even his astral form slumped from the shock of his unravelled spell. He didn't notice when the black hedgehog dashed straight through the astral form then skidded to a halt in surprise.

"Where are you really, creature?" Shadow called; His red eyes smouldered with frustration. The hedgehog walked back and put his hand into the projection, this time he was rewarded with a massive electric shock, much to the Oracles amusement.

"Not very clever are you, boy? Everyone knows you can't beat a mage with simple strength!" The Oracle laughed complacently.

Those red eyes flashed and the hedgehog's face took an unusually calm, focused look. Only too late the Oracle realised that Shadow was using his innate connection to chaos energy to track the projection back to his body. The Oracle broke the projection and hoped Shadow hadn't discovered his hide away, but his fears were realised in a flash of green light. Suddenly the ancient creature was back in the emerald hill region, with Shadow standing before him with a look of savage anticipation in his red eyes.

Lashing out in fear, the Oracle blasted Shadow away with a powerful energy bolt, hurling the black hedgehog back several yards. Another bolt followed and more also came in rapid succession, but the black hedgehog dodged them all, moving faster than the eye could see. Suddenly the Oracle was blasted off his feet by a spear of pure chaos energy, stunning him.

Instantaneously the vicious hedgehog was upon him, mercilessly pounding the ancient oracle with his fists and feet, bones snapping with every blow, a look of unfettered fury on his face. The onslaught was only halted by a gust of magical wind that sent the lightweight hedgehog flying away, howling in frustration.

'I need to finish this fast.' Thought the Oracle, his mind racing. He then decided to do something that he was normally reluctant about, even in times of crisis. Even as the hedgehog rushed back in for another attack he carefully opened a gateway into the dimension of chaos energy, its gaping maw opening just behind the speeding ultimate life form.

Shadow looked perplexed as his motion came almost abruptly to a halt and then felt the pull of his own chaos reserves dragging him back. Looking behind him he saw the tear in the fabric of reality, and then tried to run towards the Oracle with a determined expression on his face.

The Oracle staggered forward and said: "You can't escape it, you know. The realm of chaos energy calls to its own and your own reserves pull you in. The realm of chaos will consume you, mutating body, mind and soul beyond any hope of retrieval." The last statement was added with a tone of satisfaction.  
There is no way even this hedgehog could survive in there, the Oracle thought, not even my own kind can, and we were born of chaos energy.

Shadow held the Oracles gaze for a few seconds, his expression changing from alarm to anger, and then to one of confidence. To the Oracles surprise, the black hedgehog then turned and ran directly into the portal.

This action perplexed the ancient creature, even as he closed the gateway between dimensions. Why had he decided to accept certain doom without struggle? Perhaps the hedgehog thought he could escape later or survive there, but that was insane.

The Oracle found himself wishing he really knew more about what the demons capabilities had been, but the pain of his injuries brought him out of his reverie and reminded him that he needed to return to his sanctum in order to recover. Teleporting back home, he decided he would ask Jules what the humans had done to make this 'ultimate' life form.

Dr Robotnik winced at he connected his nervous system to his newly made mechanical hand. He gazed at the impromptu programming computer he had made from salvaged parts in his cramped hideout. The screen displayed the necessary dexterity programming for the bionic limb he was attaching to his bloody stump.  
Robotnik was infuriated at having to hide in a dingy smelly cramped room (at least it was to his proportions). As the download process initiated he began to think of an adequate way to get revenge on the planet that had betrayed him.  
There was no real point in eradicating the population; the people of Mobius didn't deserve such a quick way out. No, it had to be something he could draw out, something that would crush their spirits.

Suddenly, an inspiration flashed, through the furious scientists mind and he pulled out a notepad and a pencil drawing up a wide array of plans and mechanical layouts. Ivo flicked through the pages, satisfied that these could get him the means to break Mobius.

Something was still missing, however, something that would make them too afraid to ever dream of opposing him. Something so hideous in concept he wouldn't have thought about it until now. The computer chimed the completion of the download, interrupting Robotnik's fevered thinking.

He virtually rammed his new arm into place, the nano-cybernetics fusing the flesh to metal in seconds. Ivo was eager to return to his plotting when his new hand caught his eye. He turned it over and looked at the palm for a few seconds as a means of insuring no disobedience began to form in his mind.

A few days later

As he picked his way through the ruined remnants of the throne room, Jules was at a complete loss. What could have done this kind of damage, wrecking the palace wall and slaying half the guards without leaving any traces?  
His new wife, Aleena, stumbled, Jules quickly catching her before she fell. She shrugged him off and ran ahead straight for the remains of her father. The soldiers had removed the bodies and cleared most of the remains, but had placed the old king's body on a makeshift altar, coating it in a plastic wrapping to delay decay. This didn't stop the process, however, and when his purple furred mate opened the body bag Jules had to pinch his nose to keep from breathing the foul smell.  
Aleena didn't notice and looked at her father's face with a look of profound sadness. As Jules took her arm she ripped it away from him, surprising the hedgehog.

"You can't stay here, Queen Aleena, it's not healthy for the infants." Both Aleena and her husband swung around searching for the source of the voice, finding the Oracle leaning against a pillar not far from the throne. Jules was shocked to see the Oracle actually shaking; the creature barely seemed able to stand.

"What happened here, Oracle?" Aleena demanded, "Who killed my father and how do you know about my babies." Despite her tone Aleena moved closer to the Oracle, silently obeying his advice.

"I know because your father told me, and as for what happened here, that will take some time." The ancient creatures breathing seemed ragged, but it continued on. "Your father attempted to destroy the humans and steal their technology, but they retaliated. They used weapons that we'd never seen before, blasting down the walls and then a single human managed to break into the palace. Half the guards tried to stop him, but he was armed with a chaos bomb that destroyed the throne room." Jules looked at the crater in the rough centre f the room, noticing again that the stone seemed to have turned into some chocolate based substance. He turned back as the Oracle continued. "The two princes died in the assault on the human base, and the king was slain the overpressure of the explosion."

"I see why you called Aleena queen, now, but that's bad news for the kingdom." Jules said glumly; "King Max kept it together through sheer will and fear, while the princes all had reputations from the Great War to back them up. Aleena is young and many won't respect her because she's female."

"I know, but your children will have the means to quell the unrest. You see, the chaos bomb left residual radiation that has mutated them" As the Oracle mentioned the word, mutate, Aleena's hand moved quickly to her belly clutching her growing children. Her look of horror spoke of the traditional Mobian fear of mutations, a fear that Jules didn't really share; he had seen the virtues (and the risks) of it firsthand at the human base. The Oracle picked up on Aleena's actions and said:  
"Don't worry your majesty. The mutations won't be anything repugnant. In fact it means they'll have something that makes them more than normal hedgehogs." The Oracles words seemed to reassure the Queen of Mobius, but even her complete faith in the Oracle wasn't enough to completely quell her fear.

"That's all well and good, Oracle, but what if there are more human survivors?" Asked the purple furred hedgehog, trying to change the subject

"I've searched the whole world with my magic's and couldn't find any survivors from the attack." The Oracle looked regretful, "But don't forget that they are difficult to see with magic, for some reason they don't trigger magical detection spells." Both the hedgehogs ears drooped with disappointment, the Oracle remained motionless for a while.

Jules then looked at his wife, "We can't stay here. We don't know what the chaos radiation will do to your children of they're over exposed even in the womb." Aleena nodded and they both made to leave.

"Wait!" Cried the Old seer. The creature staggered over to the young hedgehogs, holding three amulets in his hand. Dangling as they were Jules saw that they resembled a piano-keyboard, a guitar and a drum set; human instruments.  
"You must take these and give them to the children, for they will complete their powers and allow me to protect them always." Jules reached out his hand, and accepted the trinkets, thanked the Oracle and then turned and left with his mate.  
As he was outside the throne room, he remembered Shadow, ran back into the throne room and found the Oracle gone; teleported away. As he returned to Aleena he cursed himself for not asking the Oracle about the black hedgehog.

"Where will we stay?" Aleena asked sadly, bringing up the concern of political assassination. Jules considered it and then remembered a place he had been to once.

"There is a place where the children can be born safely. It's called Mobodune and its people are fanatically loyal to the old king. I don't doubt that they'll keep you and the children safe. But it means that I'll have to keep on travelling between here and there to insure the kingdom stays intact."  
Aleena looked sad as her husband continued.

"We also need some people who can be trusted to keep an eye on you and the babies." Jules concluded. "I know Charles can do that, and he's a good judge of character so we'll ask him if he's got any ideas for other people."

"I thought you said he thinks you're an untrustworthy, deceitful bastard?" Aleena replied

"Like I said; a good judge of character." Jules grinned back as they began to head for the sky car pool.


	12. Chapter 12: Revelation

Three months before the rise of Robotnik's empire

Charles looked on as the newly anointed Captain Arcus played with the infant hedgehogs. The youngest of the three, Manuel, was disinterested, his attention shifting constantly as new things grabbed his attention. The blue one, Maurice, was by far the most animated, and Arcus had repeatedly had to catch him and put him back in the playpen. That one worried Charles a little, as he seemed to move frighteningly fast when he thought no one was looking. The girl, Sonia, was the most attentive, playing as a baby her age should. The only time Charles had problems with that one was when she had been surprised and her grip had actually caused pain.  
Charles sighed and remembered how happy Jules had looked in the brief time he had been able to stay. Aside from that flying visit to witness the birth of his children three weeks ago, Jules had been more or less completely absent from Mobodune, forced to remain in Mobotropolis and deal with the troubles of the outside world.

Charles had watched both the Queen and Arcus get used to the unexpected peace of Mobodune. The clean air and white buildings were a far cry from the filthy Mobotropolis. He'd once caught Aleena drawing up plans for sanitisation and outright reconstruction of Mobotropolis. He'd managed to head that off shortly before the birth of the triplets but he suspected that she hadn't given up on the idea.

"Are the packs ready?" The female hedgehog's voice startled Charles out of his reminisce. He turned his head and nodded curtly, annoyed at being asked the question for the second time.

"The nappies and baby food?"

"I've handled it, Your Majesty. I don't need to be nagged by you and your new captain. Now, you should keep the children occupied until it's time to leave." Charles ordered shortly. Aleena looked half outraged at this violation of protocol, but complied nevertheless.  
Now I can get the baby stuff before it's time to go, thought the absent minded hedgehog, turning and running back to the stores to get the equipment.

He'd just managed to finish up when Arcus and Aleena arrived at the house they had been residing in during the stay at Mobodune. Aleena was carrying Sonia, while Arcus held Maurice and Manuel, Maurice quickly leaping out of Arcus hands and rushing over to Charles. The blue hedgehog looked at his uncle with the same emerald green eyes as his father, but the look on his face was unlike either his mother or father. Even this early in his life he had a firm unflinching gaze, a clear sign of fearlessness. Chuck looked down proudly at the infant until Sonia cried out. The blue hedgehog looked at his sister with an expression of disgust then turned back to just as his uncle's gaze returned to him.

Charles reached down a ruffled the infants still soft spines, causing the quills to fall into a random pattern. Maurice giggled and jumped up, grabbing onto Charles ears and swinging up onto the older hedgehogs head, causing the current royal champion to wince in pain.

"Now, sonny, get down from there before that hurts." Charles reached up and pried the baby off, the infant running his hands through Chuck's quills in the vain hopes of holding on. Ultimately the child was securely held in his arms once more, restrained tightly to prevent his escape.

"If we're going to go, we'd better go now, soon, Mobodune's like the miracle planet, it only appears once a month." Stated Aleena, passing her dark magenta furred baby over to Arcus and strapping on one of the packs, since their company was so small, even the queen had to involve herself by carrying equipment for the journey. The two warriors followed suit and eventually managed to corral Maurice, who eventually regained his residence on Charles head.

"Jules is waiting at the emerald hill regions border with two regiments of royal guards." Charles related as they set out.

"Why couldn't he bring them right here?" Arcus asked with a definite tone of disappointment.

"No, that's not acceptable. The agreement between here and the green hill folk means no army is allowed on the doorstep of Mobodune, in exchange this place of peace allows all outsiders to be welcomed and treated of all injury." The pale hedgehog said as he looked at the crystal that had breathed life into the green hill region.

"So? Why don't they just take it by force?" Arcus persisted, earning a reproachful look from his friend. Arcus caught the expression and lapsed into silence until they left Mobodune altogether.

Sometime after they left Mobodune (with Maurice firmly gripped by Charles) a small metallic sphere floated by unseen. As they passed it the sphere altered course and began to follow them, maintaining a decent distance. Maurice turned in Charles arms and saw the sphere, shouted out in his high pitched voice and began to struggle to get a better look.

"Stop it, sonny. Be quiet." Chuck whispered to no avail. As he gripped the blue furred infant tighter, the little hedgehog's quills began digging into his arms. Charles cursed as the baby began to cry and his arms began to bleed. He the others merely help in the efforts to quiet Maurice and so none of them noticed the orb that continued to follow them at a safe distance.

As they waited many of the royal guardsmen marvelled at the beauty of the border regions between the Green and Emerald Hill territories. Despite the fact that he was used to these sights, the wonder of outsiders always brought him satisfaction. The spot they had chosen for the rendezvous was unremarkable, nearby to a village named Emerald Town, which was unsurprising, given that half the towns and villages in the Emerald Hills were called that.

His thoughts returned to the dire political situation back in Mobotropolis, many of the nobles (particularly the grand dukes) were beginning to demand that Aleena return to the city in order to take up governance. The apparent cowardice of the queen was perceived as an opportunity by some of the more distant nobles on Mobius, who had rebelled.

Jules had put down the rebellions with prejudice, but his authority was beginning to wane as the higher level nobles manoeuvred to gain influence from these petty conflicts. He couldn't borrow the authority from the queen, forever; He was, after all, only prince consort.

He was relieved to see the trio heading towards the royal guard, and he saw his children for the second time. They hadn't grown much, but it had only been two weeks since he'd last seen them. His attention was diverted from an alarmed cry from one of the soldiers.

Jules turned his head to see an aircraft landing in a position to near to Aleena and her retinue. The group broke into a run and Jules ordered the regiment to meet them as quickly as possible. The aircraft resembled a simple metal tube with wings attached, and its front opened to produce a group of red and grey armoured giants. These giants had laser weapons built into their armour and they opened fire immediately on the royal retinue. Fortunately their aim was poor and all of their shots missed, scorching the ground around the trio. The royal guard opened fire on the giants but their lasers only heated the metal skins of the assassins.

Jules could hear his children's cries as he ran full pelt towards his wife, ignoring the inaccurate fire from the red armoured monsters as he rushed to her side. Some of the guards had success by overcharging their laser rifles, slowly cutting through the over sized things. As the queen's retinue reached the safety of the regiment, the giants began to fall back, retreating to their aircraft and dragging their fallen with them. Eventually all that was left of the battle were the vapour trails of the aircraft and the scorch marks of laser fire.

Jules was with his wife and children when he was interrupted by Captain Arcus, who reminded them that they still had to reach Mobotropolis before things fell apart there. Jules gave the orders and the group set out, with the hope that the Queen could prevent Mobius for descending into war.

"Before we go I have something to give the children; they're some rather late birthday presents." He then reached behind his armour and produced the amulets. The infants all turned to look at them and reached out for the pendants. He gave the guitar to Maurice, the Keyboard to Sonia and the Drum-set to Manuel.  
He noted that they automatically knew which one to take and were all instantly satisfied with their choice. Obviously the Oracle had take steps to ensure that the items would be well received. Jules helped each one place he amulets around their necks and then ran to reach the front of the force of royal guardsmen.

Crouching next to his computer the massive human gazed at the footage as his forces were driven back. Although he was disappointed by the failure of his machines to destroy Aleena and her progeny, he wasn't that surprised by it. He now had the means to perfect the targeting algorithms on his newest creations.  
Despite the minimal losses he felt that he had gained more than he had lost, for the fact the two regiments of Royal guards had been deployed to protect her had confirmed that she was now the queen. This meant that someone had killed the rest of the royal family, but he didn't need to know who to realise that the planet was going to be politically vulnerable to attack.

He programmed his construction bots to double their numbers, then the massive human could make an army so fast they would be caught off guard, much as they were today.

Ivo was sure that his creations hadn't been discovered for what they were. Which was fortunate, because now the royals would be worried about their own aristocracy; further weakening them politically.  
Robotnik raised his massive bulk and strode over to his current masterpiece, a machine that resembled a pair of energy projectors. The flaw, of course was that it needed metallic resources to work, but the effect would be terrifying once it was prepared.

Humming to himself, he picked up his tools and got back to work, confident that his airship would bring back his army for repairs.


	13. Chapter 13: Robotnik Truimphant

Jules ducked, the massive machine's weapon missing its mark, burning one of his guards behind him in two. He fired his overcharged laser at the 'heart' of the robot, burning through and disabling it. Another came up behind it and took aim, but was cut down by multiple shots from the last soldiers of the Royal guards.  
The giants that had first appeared months ago had recently returned in vast numbers, crushing a path directly for Mobotropolis. Regiments raised by the nobility had aided the royal guards initially but everyone had been cut down, leaving the capitol of the entire planet undefended. The discovery that their enemies were machines had caused many Mobian soldiers to break, the horror of fighting truly fearless enemies sapping their will to fight. They were vastly more accurate than before, making them all but unstoppable. Now he was fighting with the last remnants of the royal guard, save for the small detachment left home to protect Aleena.

His recollection was interrupted by something smashing him in the back of the head, driving him to the ground and causing his vision to cloud with stars. He distantly heard an explosion and looked back to see a wrecked robot in his slowly clearing vision. Then he saw something that terrified him.

Someone he thought to be dead, a massive creature that looked directly at him with its black/red eyes with such hatred the air felt like it was burning. The bulky creature no longer wore a lab coat, but a red and black jump suit with a yellow cape. It strode easily over to him and came to a halt ten feet away, seemingly waiting for something.

"All SWAT-bots are to destroy the other Royal Guards!" Came the commanding voice of Ivo Robotnik, "This hedgehog is mine."

Jules rose to his feet, responding to the unspoken challenge. He made to raise his gun, but he then realised that he must have dropped it when he fell. The humungous blob before him laughed deeply, but never broke eye contact, evidently too careful to ignore his adversary.

"You've come to kill us then?" Jules said; stalling for the time he needed to regain his balance. He was swaying dangerously, unable to stand straight, yet.

Robotnik simply raised one eyebrow and replied, "Feel free to take your time to recover; I don't need you at a disadvantage to beat you alone." The fat human smiled then raised his arms, revealing that he was totally unarmed.

Jules gritted his teeth, infuriated by this human's phenomenal arrogance. He stared daggers at the bulky creature, remembering their first meeting and wondering why anyone would have ever respected the man before him. Ivo's arrogance and disrespect for the Mobians had made him one of the few humans he actually disliked. Gerald had once said that Ivo's arrogance was well deserved, that he really was the best the Erudii humans had ever seen, right then he didn't care.

Without a word Jules drew his ceremonial sword and held it ready, determined to gut this fat freak with all his strength.

Ivo began to walk slowly to the left, keeping his eyes locked to Jules' own all the time. The brown hedgehog's quills flared, his ears were pinned back, his fur bristling and his emerald green eyes were glistening with hatred. By contrast the massive human seemed at ease, moving with an effortless grace that belied his enormous size. Suddenly the human bound across the distance between them, surprising the hedgehog and disarming him with a single swift movement. Jules looked as his sword clattered away, returning his furious gaze to see that Robotnik had bound away immediately after disarming his smaller opponent.

"There's a saying, the bigger they are the harder they fall." Jules challenged.

The gigantic human laughed "You don't know how many times I've heard that." Replied Robotnik; seemingly breaking his attention to the hedgehog before him. The cunning hedgehog seized the opportunity and got smashed in the chest, caught out by the human's double bluff. Jules lay curled up on the floor gasping for air. The hedgehog felt broken inside but he tried to get up regardless. As he raised his head he saw the face of Robotnik gazing down at him with a distinctly unpleasant expression. He felt like he was being sized up for something, and knowing the nature of the man better than any other alive on Mobius, he had a sick feeling it involved something gruesome.

Jules attempted to smile despite the pain, but knew it must have looked awful, so he said; "Has anyone told you that moustache makes you look like you've got two squirrels trying to mate inside your head?" The human frowned and kicked the hedgehog in the face, knocking the smaller creature flying, trailing blood and a few teeth. Jules staggered to his feet spitting out most of the blood and loose teeth in his mouth and trying to reset his nose. He felt more than saw the massive shadow of Robotnik on his and barely dodged out of the way of another crushing blow. He then had an idea: Maybe the bulky human was fast and prodigiously strong, but he couldn't have that much stamina, since he had to move that much mass.

Sadly, this strategy didn't work out as the grand duke had planned. The human slowed down after the hedgehog had continuously dodged for half a minute, but as Jules moved in to attack Robotnik drove his fist faster than ever into Jules body, causing him to sail away in pain.

Jules attempted to stand once more as the gargantuan human loomed over him again. Jules managed to land one good punch, but seemed to hit something made almost entirely out of muscle, with very little give. That was the last thing he knew before Robotnik smashed him on the side of the head and the world went dark.

Robotnik was actually pleased with the day's turn of events. He'd initially intended to use Queen Aleena to demonstrate his control system, but he was too impatient to show it off and had a subject almost as good. In his organic hand he carried the unconscious form of Jules by his legs. The doctor was on his way back to the forward base he had established, for the testing and demonstration.

The brown hedgehog squirmed as they neared the fully constructed bunker, so Ivo slammed the hedgehog against the wall to wake him up.

"Ah, you're awake, I see. Welcome back, Jules, you're going to assist me in an experiment that will change the fabric of society as you know it." Ivo said in mocking tones. The hedgehog was silent, either too dazed or too proud to reply.

"Have you ever wondered why your people rebel?" Ivo continued as he entered his main laboratory. He'd already set his equipment for his return, because he intended to broadcast what happened here across the world. King Max had installed live feed television screens across his kingdom so he could state his decrees across the planet, a consequence of arrogance on a level Ivo admitted almost rivalled his own. These screens were crucial for the plan, however.

Jules hadn't responded to his question. So Ivo carried on as he put Jules on the experimental device and activated a force field to prevent the wily hedgehogs escape. "It's because they only fear for their lives, which is a rather petty thing to be afraid about. I always regarded the freedom to act as we please as somewhat more important." Ivo said pompously. He continued to make some final adjustments on his computer and got the experiment ready to run; all it required was the press of a button.

"I know you can't respond, the force field blocks all sound, but I just wanted to say, vengeance is sweet."

Robotnik then turned to the live feed camera and activated it, hacking into every band of communication.

All across Mobius, every television system displayed the form of an immense human with a massive handlebar moustache, glinting black eyes with red pupils and a mechanical arm. At first, many thought it was a joke but they were soon to be disabused of this notion.

"Citizens of Mobius: Lend me your ears and listen very carefully!" The voice of Robotnik boomed out of every radio as well as televisions. None were to escape this notice from the last human on Mobius.

"My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the world's greatest scientist; and soon to be this world's greatest ruler!" The human boomed in an arrogant tone. Those not intimidated by his size were angered by this freaky creature's attitude.

"For those of you not well informed my swatbot army has defeated the forces defending Mobotropolis!" Many shook their heads in disbelief, but their scepticism was shattered when a recording of the battle was shown with the army of Mobius breaking beneath the power of Robotnik's machines.

"Those of you who do not surrender immediately will share the same fate as my guest of honour today." The human stepped aside to reveal the horribly beaten form of: "None other than the prince consort to Queen Aleena the first, Jules Hedgehog of house Hedgehog, Grand Duke of the Emerald Hills region and the Green Hills Region and owner of the chemical plant facilities to the north the Emerald Hills." The Mobians saw Jules struggling to escape the force field, but nothing seemed to break through, not even sound.

"He has the unique honour of testing our newest punishment system: The Robotecisor!"

Part of Robotnik came back into screen holding a remote device. The rotund human pressed a button on the remote and Jules prison was glowed with a pale green light. The husband of the Queen seemed to scream and his movements seemed agonised as his form was slowly changed from flesh to machinery. Many Mobians were horrified by what they were seeing, resulting in a far larger victory today than had been won by the SWAT bots less than an hour ago.

The process finally came to a halt, the new robotic version of Jules standing ready to serve.

"Now, my new servant, step forth and prepare for orders!" Robotnik commanded as the force field deactivated. The robotic hedgehog complied, stopping directly in front of the camera; it's glowing blue eyes devoid of any emotion or any 'Jules' that might have existed before.

Robotnik burst into maniacal laughter causing all but the bravest to shudder in fear.

The blue infant saw the images on the looking square and saw the being he knew was his father changed into a shiny thing. His eyes filled with tears but he didn't cry, because he heard a sniffling noise. He looked around to see if anyone else was around and decided to look for the noise, seeing his mother sobbing opposite the square, sobbing. The infant hedgehog crawled over and tugged at his mother's skirt, looking up into those tearful brown eyes with his own green ones. The mother scooped up the infant and for once he didn't struggle, since he felt too sad to play like he normally did.

He turned back to the screen and said "Daa?"

His purple furred mother looked at him sadly and said, "No, your father's gone." Although the infant didn't understand the words he recognised the tone of sadness and quietly cried as his mother rocked him gently in her arms, her own eyes streaming.

*************

Charles saw the communication and was running for the Queens private chambers along with Arcus when their panicked rush was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Oracle directly in front of them.

"Charles, Arcus, you must get the chaos emerald out of here; Doctor Robotnik must never get his hands on it!" The Oracles tone relayed such urgency that the two soldiers both paused.

"What about Aleena?" Charles said, worried about his sister in law.

"I'll get her out of here. You two just save the emerald and get yourselves to safety." With that the Oracle disappeared in a flash of light.

The two soldiers looked at each other, deciding what to do. Charles then made the decision shouting this way and breaking into a run for the lower dungeons of the palace. They went through several flights of stairs and corridors to reach the lowest level of the palace, where the power source of Mobotropolis was kept.

"It's no good Sir Charles! Even I don't have a key to the emerald vault." Arcus said as they reached the heavy metal doors. Charles ignored the captain, pulling a key out of his brown shoes. Walking straight to the vault he placed the key in the lock and turned it.

The door began to make a whirring noise as the machinery within shifted the door slowly open. The pale blue hedgehog strode through into the emerald vault itself. The whole room was dominated by a massive lead black tank which contained the Chaos Emerald itself. There was only one console, which connected to a vast number of displays, all related to the energies the emerald gave off. The system was well within tolerance, but Charles knew that the emerald could be used to insure the rule of that bloated human forever, so he activated a sequence the old king had installed. No other living Mobian knew of the ejection sequence for Mobotropolis power system, as only the King and Prince Aaron had known besides him.

The pale blue hedgehog confirmed the commands and the room flashed with green emerald energy, the emerald flying under its own power up through the palace, all the way above Mobius' atmosphere. Although the gem would eventually come down, it would remain in orbit until well after its glow had been cooled by the chill of space. Then the emerald would re-enter the atmosphere and fall to ground randomly in a few years.

With their task done both Mobians fled the palace, splitting up. They would never see each other again.


	14. Chapter 14: Epilogue

"Swatbots remove the doors!" Robotnik roared, his new pet machine standing silently beside him. The rotund human waited calmly outside the room as his creations slaughtered the remaining soldiers within the castle. Grinning as the firing ceased, Ivo gave the order to break into the throne room. His mind was ablaze with anticipation.

The swatbots were slowly melting down the final doors of the throne room. Soon he would be able to remove all hope from Mobius completely, breaking its planet and people beneath his boot. Doctor Robotnik could almost taste the fear of the citizens of Mobius. As the doors finally melted down Robotnik turned from his gloating and looked at the steadily clearing smoke.

The massive human looked into the throne room, then, suddenly rushed in alone. His anticipation turned rapidly into disappointment, which in turn flared into rage. He rounded on the diminutive form of the Jules robot.

"You said your sensors had detected her heart beat!" The hulking Doctor growled  
The machine was unable to comprehend the tone and responded as though it was a question. "Secondary heart beat appeared for point 0.5 of a second. Then both were gone 2.333 seconds prior to entry." Ivo didn't even bother to explain the stupidity of that statement and simply drove his mechanical fist straight through the puny Robots head.

He then turned to the SWAT bot detachment and roared: "I want this place searched completely, tear it all apart until you find that hedgehog and her children! She can't have gotten far, it's not like she can teleport!" He then turned away as his machines began to search, looking for any evidence of the queen current location.

As he went into the royal quarters he found a small picture. It had Aleena, and her three spawn. In it was Aleena herself, a green hedgehog with brown eyes, a magenta hedgehog with the same colour eyes and a blue hedgehog with green eyes, which was probably blurred from poor camera work. Nothing could move that fast.

Except from Shadow, the doctor mentally added, but he's the only one. The very concept that a natural mutation could match his ultimate creation was preposterous in the extreme.

Robotnik eventually called off the search for the Queen, and established himself as the tyrant of Mobius; the ever present threat of the Robotecisor and his SWAT bot armies ensured that resistance would be minimal. The aristocracy were able to quickly accommodate the new ruler, but the commons were unable to adjust to a man bent on punishing Mobius' people.

The Oracle gazed into a glowing green pool, the Queen standing beside him. He had barely got there in time to teleport her and her children away from the currently captured Palace. In truth, the pool was unnecessary for foreseeing the future, but he needed it to allow Aleena to see the future he wanted. The pool showed her giving up her children, passing them to three different families. These children were raised by their foster parents and ultimately gathered together. They aided their mother in defeating Robotnik and recovered dominion of Mobius for her bloodline.

"Well, there you have it, your majesty, I'm afraid if you wish to defeat Robotnik you must surrender your children." The Oracle refrained from telling her that he would be the one to band them together and thus would be the one who would have even greater influence over them.

"Yes, I see." For the first time in her life the young hedgehog was looking at the Oracle with a suspicious expression, something that didn't surprise the ancient creature: He was asking her to give her babies away to total strangers. She then said something before the Oracle could respond; "I'll be able to move faster without them, and I'll worry Jules' agents less if I am alone."

The Oracle was surprise that Aleena knew about the intelligence network her late husband had assembled. He'd found out on his own, but the fact that Jules had told Aleena about his own personal spies was something that he hadn't accounted for. The best he could do was to agree and hope his slip went unnoticed. "Then you'll be able to slow the human down while your children are growing, a good plan your majesty." He said as the soul of approval.

The Queen hadn't even waited for him to finish the sentence as she walked down to her sleeping children. She gazed at their faces; the infants were sound asleep. The Oracle saw as she reached down to touch the quills of her daughter, Sonia. The Oracle knew that this one was the most like their father, whereas the Green furred child was more akin to his mother. The Oracle found himself hoping that Manuel wouldn't have his sound mind crushed beneath more forceful personalities before it could strengthen itself, a fate that had nearly befallen his mother. The last one, Maurice, was unusual, for even now, the Oracle could see a definite metaphysical resemblance to the black hedgehog that had nearly defeated him.

Although the he had resolved to watch all three very closely, he intended to keep closest to this one, in case he became able to wriggle out of the fabric of destiny.  
His planning was interrupted by the Queen, who had finished fixing the babies faces in her mind turned to the Oracle saying, "I'm ready to go." There was little the Oracle could do but teleport her and the infant hedgehogs to the outskirts of Mobotropolis.

He shifted his time-streaming gaze to the present and kept a close eye on her. If some robot came and attacked her, the future would become perilous to his long term plans.

Fortunately, she managed to drop off the girl almost immediately, at an aristocrat's home. The owners of the house came out (somewhat uncharacteristically for Mobian nobility) and saw the baby. The female picked up the child and carried her into the manor, but the Oracle was already moving forward in time, watching ahead of the rightful Queen of Mobius as she dropped off the youngest of her children, Manuel, in the precise opposite conditions of the girl. The slum she had chosen was well known as the worst one in all of Mobotropolis, and when she left the child outside the door, a rat swiftly seized the infant and pulled it away.

The Oracle nearly panicked, and immediately followed in the vision, only to find the infant being presented to a creature he knew to be an old agent of Jules, currently going by the name of Feral. The mutant obviously knew who he was taking into his care, and the Oracle knew that Manuel would be well cared for.  
Sure of events he returned to his searching. He was surprised to see that Aleena had gone beyond the boundaries of Mobotropolis into the emerald hill region and was currently talking to her brother in law, Charles. He made the effort to listen into the conversation:

"They're good people, but we're going to need to hide his name." Said the pale blue hedgehog.

"You don't fully trust them?" The Queen replied, a shocked expression on her face.

"Actually I trust the old dog with my life, but Robotnik's been searching for any hedgehog going by the names of your children. Maurice isn't a name of the commons, Aleena, and his agents will pick up on it." Aleena looked shocked and Charles picked up and asked "What?" in a flat tone.

"I left Sonia outside with an aristocrat family with her own name and I did the same with Manuel in the slums." The purple furred hedgehog didn't know about Feral.

Her brother in law stared at her for a few seconds then said glumly"Well, nobody cared about the slums before and I doubt Robotnik will, either. And Sonia is an aristocratic name; as long as she doesn't get too much attention drawn to her she should be okay." Aleena didn't look convinced, but moved on regardless.

"What do we tell them his name is then?"

"I don't know, I've always called him Sonny, but that's just too-." Charles didn't continue, because he felt that there was a basis for a good name there. He just couldn't find it. "One thing, though, is that if you're seen here it'll attract attention. Your clothing is far too fine to be from around here. So you shouldn't be the one to drop him off at their home."

The Queen looked predictably furious at being denied some last few moments with her son, but the Oracle saw that she knew Charles was right. She looked on as her brother in law took her son away, possibly for several years.

As the Queen moved on, the Oracle followed Charles as he went to a house within the village nearby. The pale hedgehog knocked on the door, and this little sound awoke the darker blue infant from his slumber. As the occupants of the house opened the door the infant suddenly rushed inside, startling the middle aged grey dog and his mate.

Charles looked moderately embarrassed by his charges actions and explained the situation to the ex soldier. The gray blood hound looked at the hyperactive hedgehog that was currently bouncing around the living room.

"He's like a sonic boom isn't he, destroying everything within the blast area." The hound's wife said with a hint of mourning in her voice. The phrase sparked an inspiration in Charles.

"That's a good name: Sonic... So can you care for him? Until he can do what he's supposed to do?" Charles pleaded.

The hound shared a long look with his wife, their expressions saying a whole conversation. Briefly the Oracle gazed into their minds and saw that despite their efforts their relationship had remained childless. Despite the infant's obvious problems with keeping still, they really didn't see a choice.

"Alright, Chuck, we'll take him in, but you owe us." The hound's wife said. Charles nodded and left the new foster parents of Sonic the hedgehog to their business.  
The Oracle was satisfied with what he saw, so he now decided to intimidate doctor Robotnik.

Unlike the previous owners of the palace, Robotnik slept in a comparatively austere room, unremarkable aside from the advanced technical equipment lining the walls. Years of sleeping at work had ground their groove into his brain, the one real condition the hulking human needed for sleep.

"Robotnik" Ivo awoke with a start, shocked to see the misshapen form of the Oracle before him. He was literally speechless, shocked by the presence of this creature even he would call alien. The Oracle continue as Robotnik gathered his wits "Your days of tyranny are numbered!"

For a fraction of a second he considered arguing with the creature but then chose to call the guards.  
Unfortunately before he could reach the comms he felt an agonising pain lance through his body, causing him to howl in pain. The pain intensified every time he attempted to move, allowing the green creature to continue its monologue.

"You will listen!" Stated the Oracle, "One day, Queen Aleena and her three children will form the council of four. On that day your reign of tyranny will end!" With that the Oracle released him from the spell and instantly teleported away.

Far from being intimidated, Robotnik felt new possibilities emerging in his mind. A plethora of what ifs ran their course, and Robotnik decided to take this threat from the Oracle as a poor strategic move, giving away his game plan well before the pieces were set. Ivo knew that the royal triplets were infants and that he had copious time to either find, corrupt or kill them.

Robotnik tried to return to sleep but couldn't, his blood was up. He decided to return to his work on a system that would track down the chaos emerald that had been ejected from the palace shortly before his machines had penetrated. The city-wide black out was still concern, and although his new chaos drives rectified this, they had far less power than a true chaos emerald If he could find one he could create a war machine powerful enough that no one could stop him.

_And that is that. hope you enjoyed it. When I started this half a year ago and put the chapters up on Deviant Art I didn't know it would wind up a fourteen chapter long tale. Anyway, hopefully you liked my attempt to fill in some of the plot holes in the background story of Sonic Underground. I know I enjoyed smashing up Mobotropolis with Shadow. And esablishing the dominion of Robotnik._

_I'm currently working on two other tales at the moment, Dreaming Mobius, which is sort of a sequel to SU which introduces Tails and other characters to the continuity. Also Radiant Mobius, another prequel set in the era of Tikal. Let me know if you want me to put them up when I'm done._


End file.
